Morning all.
Europa League Group E: Arsenal, Sporting CP, Qarabag, FC Vorskia, two of which I’ve never heard of. Qarabag are in Azerbaijan and Vorskla the Ukraine so that’s a fair bit of travelling which we could have done without but it is what it is and that’s the downside of being in the Europa League Cup. The good side to it of course is that whoever wins it is rewarded with a place in the Champions League.
The people of Armenian are banned from entering Azerbaijan so Mkhitaryan won’t be participating in the away fixture against Qarabag and should we reach the final, he’ll miss that too for the same reason. Baku Olympic Stadium is the venue, in Azerbaijan. Ridiculous!
Arsenal under 23’s got one over the neighbours last night. 2-1 was the final score but it should have been a heavier defeat. Missed chances including a penalty went begging. After the match Freddie was pleased with the way the players performed, improving in each game he said which the first team will do soon too I hope.
How it was to manage a north London derby he was asked:
I had one against West Ham but if we’re talking just north London with Spurs, then yes, of course. I have history with them! It’s always nice to win against them.
It sure is. Doesn’t matter which Arsenal team plays the Totts, bragging rights are always there to be won. Freddie, despite not being a born and bred north Londoner, he knows what this fixture means to the Arsenal fans because when he was a player, Big Tony and co would have drummed it into him.
Sticking with the Under 23’s, Reiss Nelson left to go on loan yesterday with Hoffenheim but not before signing a new long term contract at Arsenal. Great news in my opinion and playing in the bundesligue wont do his career any harm. Neither will being coached by Julian Nagelsmann, a manager who top clubs including Real Madrid were reportedly interested in snapping up in during the summer. At just 31 years old, he’s one of the hottest managerial properties in football.
The transfer window is now closed for every club so for now at least both Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck are staying put. The club have between now and the New Year to sort out their new contracts or come January, they’ll need to be sold. As a club seemingly reluctant to spend big on transfers right now, it can’t afford to lose money on them next summer. Both Nacho Monreal and Petr Cech are out of contract next summer too. I’m far from convinced that any of the four will be at Arsenal when the 2019/20 season kicks off. By then, Emery will have had three transfer windows in which to make this team his and not just one he was left which lets face it, was a mess. Unbalanced, undisciplined, down on confidence and lacking in many areas on the pitch. It still is but as plenty of us keep saying, Rome wasn’t built in a day and at least in Guendouzi and Torreira, our midfield looks stronger defensively. It’s behind them where our major problems still exist but once Torreira gets on the pitch from the start of matches, they should get more protection. Then in January, signing at least one top quality centre back has to be the priority but until then, Emery and co can only work with who they have.
Finally, Unai Emery showed his humorous side during his pre-match press conference yesterday and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth viewing. Not sure I understand what he’s saying half the time though but even so, his English is much better than my Spanish so who am I to be critical.
Have a great weekend guys..
Morning all,
I’ll a great to see the Europa League final is being held in such a stable part of the world lol
Seriously, if we make it and the refuse Mkhitaryan entry, is hope we boycott the thing.
Morning. If they refuse entry to an Arsenal player for political rather than criminal reasons, surely EUFA would have to act Scott?
Rico, I can see it now, ‘Having Kosielny back is just like a newl signing!’
Morning guys.
That would have been Wenger’s line Andrew, not sure about Emery though.
I hope we don’t Scott. If we get to the final, play it without Mkhitaryan.
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Good morning Rico and Scott.
From my reading of the Mkhitaryan situation, it appears that the he is quite likely to receive a visa on entering the country. Just as the Armenian athletes who competed in the 2015 European games in Baku were. The same would apply to the final which is also being played in Azerbaijan. A UeFa spokesman said “It is standard procedure for UeFa to send letters of support to associations, clubs or embassies to obtain visas for players in order to be able to play in UeFa competition matches”.
Total mileage for the group games away to Sporting Lisbon, Qarabag (Azerbaijan) and FK Vorska (Ukraine) is around 10,000 miles.
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It’s the “silly season” newspapers have to dredge up anything to sell a few more papers, and they never let the facts get in the way of a good, or even a mediocre, story.
Morning Cicero, I didn’t know that. Didn’t Mkhitaryan have to stay at home when Dortmund had to travel to Azerbaijan?
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Rico, Mkhitaryan did not travel to Azerbaijan with Borussia Dortmund for “security reasons”, despite the Azerbaijani embassy saying he would be granted a visa on arrival.
Yes , he was not picked but that was Dortmund’s decision . Apparently he can go because eufa will clear it but like before it might be pertinent to keep him home.
Should we get to the final we should pick him because the crowd would be less partizan but if they refuse entry , they lose the final.
I agree, leave him at home in the group stage, it’s not worth the hassle or risk.
Agreed-he won’t be required in the group stages.
With the eyes on the world on them, I doubt Azerbaijan will deny access.
I’d take a healthy Koscielny right now, new signing or not 🙂
We won’t see Koscielny until the new year I reckon. For a match like Cardiff away, we need Torreira to start imo, Lichtsteiner too.
It’s time.
Torreira has been eased back nicely.
We should apply the same logic I reckon Cicero
Afternoon Gooners and Rico.
No need to worry as I don’t expect to see Mkhitarayan involved in the early stages of the UEFA Cup, but if we were to get to the final it could be an issue.
UEFA have created this problem by not thinking this scenario through, typical from them!
It’s their fault so they’ll do nothing about it.
Any responsible association would tell Azerbaijan that if Mkhitaryan is denied entry then the final will be moved to a neighbouring country.
How about, er, Armenia?
Afternoon Kev, are you expecting a similar approach to the group stage as last season?
Can Arsenal reach the final?
It will be very difficult!
At this stage Chelsea, Sevilha, etc are much better then us and will come later the teams from the Champions League.
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I honestly can’t see there being a problem in Mkhitaryan being allowed to enter Azerbaijan to play in a UEFA competition. If the security situation worsens, to a point where players are at risk, then UEFA will change the venue to a neutral country. They cannot afford to be seen to put players in danger.
After this stage, we will not be in the last three
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I think some said the same thing last season, yet we made it to the final. Don’t forget, because of reaching last season’s final, we are seeded and so will avoid the other big clubs until the later stages.
I think almost everyone is agreed that Champions League qualification via the top four is unlikely, so we should go all out to win the Europa League and get into the bigger competition that wait’s a simple matter of priorities.
I still believe top four is achievable…
Cardiff has played 3 games so far and twice their opponents have had a man sent off. We must not retaliate because Warnock’s men will push as far as the ref will allow them. And guess who it is ? no other than that nice bloke that Wenger pushed around Mr Anthony Taylor. Someone ought to tell Emery to be on his toes.
Evening all and thanks Rico.
Blimey, I must have been on a different planet, I didn`t know we made the Europa League Final !………………..how did we get on Cicero ? 😆
I missed it too , I was having a cup of tea at the time.
The final was probably played on quiz night in the other bar ……… Right Cicero ?
We get a player sent off, potter, and we will only win 7-0 !
Not one of Cardiff`s players would get in Arsenal`s Subbuteo let alone our first team !
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I’m so glad you spotted my deliberate error in missing out the vital word…….semi.😉
One half missing in the Feathers or one too many.
I take it none of the red cards were rescinded?
Nothing wrong with not being able to get a semi, Cicero !……………………………I prescribe watching The Spuds lose a game as treatment ! 🙂
Yes Rico, I think Emery will heavily rotate for the UEFA Cup ties against the two weaker sides but put out his best team against Sporting.
Ditto Kev, makes sense too after all, what’s the point in having a squad otherwise.
I read Emery denied Smith-Rowe a loan which if true hints towards him being included in Europa and possibly more.
Morning to you and all..
Afternoon each.
Looks as if Cardiff will have a good chance of scoring their first goal of the season, playing against the defence that just les on giving.
Cardiff 1 the mighty Arsenal 3
At least I hope so.
Blue skies and warm again here. Let’s hope the Arsenal don’t spoil my day!
Afternoon wavy, all.
The HH server crashed this morning..
Cech has to be running out of time.
Taylor is giving us nothing, what a useless ref he is.
Very very lucky.
As I said, Cech must be running out of time… what was he thinking and then had the nerve to blame Guendouzi
Thumping header…
Nightmare defence.
Why do we invite teams to cross so easily time after time? Our wide men have to beat a defender usually or have two attackers to get a cross in, and then there’s usually no one in middle.
Sly Warnock team, follow through after ball gone, hand on face, carry on that’s ok say officials.
They’re certainly a dirty lot and Taylor is letting them get away with it.
The generosity of our play will see Cardiff get their first win of the season at this rate. We are really poor both at the back, the middle and up front. The ball just doesn’t seem to stick, anywhere. The passing is almost non existent, the players’ first second and third touches are ponderous and the ball retention is equally unimpressive. Other than that they’re doing very well against a hardworking untalented opposition.
Heaven forefend.
4 players booked !!!! 2 or 3 in the midfield!
Cardiff must score the first goal to Arsenal. Was written in the stars. Not one but two
I always regret that the ball goes to Cesc’s feet!
What’s the idea? To kick it forward and lose it, it better be a defender to kick it!
Luckily we won, but it seems to me that it will be like the previous year: many few points away.
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All teams have respect to the City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Totts and United. With Arsenal, they have realized that it is easier to score points.
I continue with the same idea: the first objective is to make the necessary points not to descend.
You have a misconception of Sporting. Sporting is a candidate to win the Europa League just as it was last year.
We are continuing to make the sort of defensive errors that were so common under Wenger. Not cutting out crosses, not tackling the providers of those crosses. The situation is exacerbated by this suicidal idea of playing the ball out of our own area, it just invites the opposition to press the centre backs and make a very dodgy looking Cech even dodgier.
By the time we’ve got the ball clear, the opposition have been able to arrange their defenders and nullify any chance of a quick counter attack.
Until he scored a peach of a goal, I thought Aubameyang was pretty well ineffective. Lacazette’s goal was excellent, as was Torreira’s assist.
Still, it has taken only four games for Emery to achieve what it took Wenger until the last game of the season to do…win an away Premiership game.
Not quite the 11-10 score I predicted, but could have been !
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Before this game we had run the most and sprinted the most of any team. I like these stas and proves that Dick is changing the way we play to compete with the other pressing teams, it will take time though as others have suggested, but the stats tell us the players are doing what Dick has asked……………..all good imo.
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/arsenals-incredible-running-stats-prove-15101001
What a fine day !……………………………cruising on my ride on mower topping up the tan…………………………..England win the cricket and the series…………………………..Gooner Hamilton wins Grand Prix………………………Mighty Arse win……………………………………………and deluded cucking funts lose to Watford !………………………………..I have a nice glow all over…………………………….I may treet the wife to a take away.
🙂
Xhaka, Cech and Ozil. Weak links imo.
Torreira is going to be a big player for us, no pun intended. Guendouzi too.
Lacazette, ten out of ten imo.
Agree Laca`, Rico, then Deeney and Cathcart nine out of tens ! 🙂
Ha ha Lc, nice results today eh…
Now I know how Emery lost 4-0 first leg lead to Barce….he’s very stubborn. When would he put his best line up out there? Whenever I see his starting line-up, I think Wenger is making the selection.
I sure wish we knew why Torreira isn’t starting.
I know our defensive work is poor right now but they should never have been awarded a free kick for the equaliser. Taylor was dreadful today yet again.
Rico, it’s not just Taylor the entire officiating in EPL is dreadful. Small wonder that there wasn’t one EPL referee at the World Cup.
Obi, I know. They’re appalling..
Rico, I wondered who the referee was, so not surprised to find out that it was the hugely incompetent Taylor, he was hopeless.
Monreal just rolled back the years to put in another quality performance, Xhaka is a carthourse, not only slow on the pitch but slow between the ears, none of our midfield were that great tbh, save the impressive Torrieira, what a lovely player he is, no Hollywood Ramsey flicks from him, he wins it, keeps it simple, economical and efficient, a very encouraging cameo from him.
Three top goal by Arsenal, maybe we should have had a couple more and Cardiff’s 2nd was a foul on Ramsey.
Cech is never going to be a sweeper keeper and if Emery persists it’s going to cost us big time.
A thoroughly enjoyable day interspersed with moment of farce.
Nobody has ever convinced me of the benefit in playing our from the back, and plenty have tried.
More chances/goals are conceded than they are made from this tactic.
There’s a time for it, but so many clubs want to do it every, single time the ball is in the keepers possession.
Another stellar performance but hey, we will take the points and the fact we aren’t playing well yet now have two wins in a row is a positive of sorts.
We need to continue the run,and Watford are my new second favourite club 🙂
Have to agree re the passing out from the back, as if it,s a new science. Seems to cause more problems than not,
but Jesus, the team don,t make it easy for us fans to watch, do they, but still a compelling, if not an untidy and error-strewn game. At times some lovely slick passing and some good flashes of individual skill, but as ever defensively i,m sure there,s not one team who will not fancy their chances against us this season.
Cardiff who scored their first two goals of the season, typically against us, were bold and brave but they will struggle this season. They arguably have the weakest front line in the top flight, but they still could,ve had 3 or 4 against us.
Still, baby steps, a win is a win, patience is needed. We may not see Emery,s true influence till next season just like Klopp and Guardiola,s first seasons. Top four seems a tall order at this stage, but I do feel we,ll finish this season stronger than we started it….
Kev, someone needs to tell Taylor that Arsene Wenger has gone, then he might ditch his bitterness towards Arsenal.
Playing out from the back is fine imo, but it needs the right players to do it. The problem we have is Cech is stuck in the past and the ball isn’t played out quick enough or accurately enough. Just my take on it anyway.
This is what this season is about I’d have thought and those who can’t adapt to the new style will be sold.
Morning all.
Morning all.
Rico, I had a discussion the other day with someone about this very topic.
He suggested I know nothing about football-fair call lol-because if I did, I wouldn’t question why we do it, when it’s good enough for Pep.
Well, half a billion worth of players on the pitch suggests he has the quality to do it where we clearly struggle, but my issue isn’t so much playing out, but playing out at all costs.
When we have time on the ball, no worries, but when we are under pressure, why add to that pressure by trying to play out?
Surely, there’s a time and place for banging the ball long.
The other thing I suggested to this guy was we should try and play the football best suited to our players instead of trying to play the perfect game, something Wenger was criticised for, and rightly so, when the talent in the pitch was lacking.
Leicester won the League for the very reason that they played to their strengths, imo.
I wonder if Emery is smarter than all of us.
MAYBE, he knew we’d really struggle with our first two games and the next two were “should wins”, so knowing there was an International break afterwards, why not take things easy with Torreira as chances are he will have a hell of trip over the next week or two.
Clutching at straws?
Maybe, but I live in hope 🙂
Scott, that’s my take on it really. It’s not the tactic itself, it’s being smart enough to know when a mighty kick up the pitch, preferably in the direction of a teammate, is the best option. Cech is focussing on playing the ball out rather than what’s going on around him imo.
City took a season to sort themselves out and to find the right players to play Peps way. We’re not City, we don’t have their kind of money either but I’m sure there are players out there for half the price who could play the Emery way. I reckon they’ll arrive in time too.
I’d say change the players not the tactics, hoof ball is old style imo. This is the way to go I reckon as it’s proved to be effective and successful. As Neville said, this isn’t about a quick fix or avoiding relegation, this is about a new Arsenal, a better Arsenal.
Jonathon, we are the gift eh…
New post up now guys.