Morning all.
Fifteen passes, ten players involved and a simple tap in to finish. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve watched that goal and it’s still as good as the first time. In fact it gets better each time.
All three of our goals against Leicester City were classy. Swift passing, excellent movement and in Özil’s case, a skilful finish made to look simple. The defence splitting ball he played to Bellerin was sublime, everything as ‘they’ say was so Arsenal. So Arsene Wenger, yet he’s gone, long gone and he hadn’t got us playing in such a way for a long time.
What we are doing now is Emery’s style, his ideas, his football and when it works, it’s a joy to watch. Had it been City or Liverpool, the media would still be talking about our victory and goals until they’d run out of words but because it’s Arsenal they soon press their default mode and switch to the negative side of our game. Defending and how lucky we’ve been during our ten match winning steak.
Isn’t there an old saying, ‘fortune favours the brave?’
It’s obvious something isn’t quite right with our defending and anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves in my opinion but the reason it’s taking so long to improve could be down to the fact that it was so bloody awful when Unai Emery took over. Not just for a short time either. When did we last have a strong defensive unit? When Gilberto was in midfield in my opinion and that was years ago. Emery needs time and he certainly needs players to rectify the problem we have. In the meantime, we’ll need to rely on hard work and a bit of Lady Luck. Improvement too of course as the season goes on.
Tomorrow night we have another test, of a different kind I’d imagine. I don’t follow Portuguese football at all and have no plan to either but Sporting Lisbon have a good record in European football, certainly against English opposition. Arsenal have not done particularly well in Portugal.
- Arsenal have never won in five UEFA visits to Portugal (D2 L3), scoring just two goals – both, curiously, by a player called Campbell (striker Kevin against Benfica in the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs’ Cup; defender Sol against Porto in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League.
- The Lisbon club have been regular participants in the UEFA Europa League since its inception in 2009/10, featuring in the competition proper in seven previous seasons and the group stage in five of those, most recently in 2015/16. Semi-finalists in 2011/12, they reached the quarter-finals last season after transferring from the UEFA Champions League group stage.
- Sporting have won all of their last three European home games without conceding. They have only ever lost once at home in the UEFA Europa League group stage and twice in the competition proper, their overall record in Lisbon standing at W18 D8 L2.
It’ll be tough but Unai Emery knows all about this competition. He’s won it three times. If any manager can get a result in Portugal, it’s him.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyDMeCmOm2I
But going back to ‘that goal’ at the weekend, where do you rate it? Better than the team goal which ended in Jack Wilshere scoring a few years ago or not quite?
Aubameyang for me all day long…
Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Rico – “… Had it been City or Liverpool, the media would still be talking about our victory and goals until they’d run out of words but because it’s Arsenal they soon press their default mode and switch to the negative side of our game.” If it had been Citeh or Liverpool, I’m sure the media would be trying to minimize our team’s achievement with comments like ‘fluke result’, ‘gross errors by the referee &/or his assistants’, ‘City/Liverpool had an off night’, etc. We wont get much, if any, respect from the media unlees we win the league or beat the likes of City/Liverpool on a regular basis.
As for the Sporting Lisbon game, I’ll be watching closely to see if I can spot my older son in the crowd. He is on vacation in Portugal and managed to get tickets to the game. He’ll be joined by his good friend and his wife who both live and work in London. Unfortunately, their seats are in the home fans section.
Morning Cg. I meant had it been City or Liverpool scoring those kind of goals.. lol
Thanks Rico for another good `un.
To balance up the argument, here`s Auba`s one !……….
https://twitter.com/fb_dailypolls/status/1054757827170983937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1054757827170983937&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farsenalarsenal.net%2F2018%2F10%2F23%2Fwow-that-was-a-hell-of-a-half-time-talk-leicester-ratings%2F
Love Jack`s one, but would like to see more of the build up play to decide ! 🙂
What I like at the moment( and how long will it last ?) is that this Arsenal run is being kept low, no bragging etc`, a bit under the radar and that`s how I like it !…………………..come the minute when it`s mathematically impossible for us to lose the quintuple then I`ll start bragging ! 😆
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, good post, I think you so rightly put an accurate perspective on things and how difficult a job we have in Lisbon. In the past Arsenal teams have maybe underestimated the difficulty of getting a result in Portugal, only Bertie Mee and George Graham have managed it.
Unai Emery being Spanish will be very familiar with the difficulty of getting a positive result in Portugal, Spain vs Portugal is like England vs Scotland, there’s a lot of feeling and history behind any fixture between the two.
So our Head Coach will not underestimate this fixture, he’ll be well aware of what is in store, the influence of the home crowd in their biggest game of this season maybe of their entire season. He’ll know that Sporting will use the dark arts, simulation, off the ball antics, throwing themselves onto the deck, we’ll need strong, honest officials, but our players must be prepared to indulge in these tricks as well, it normal on the continent and we’d be naive not to do the same as our hosts.
Emery will pick as strong a team as he can, but only he’ll have any idea what the line up will be, but that means that the scouts from Sporting won’t be sure.
Emery will know all about his opponents and their form this season, but that can only be a guide as the visit of Arsenal will add an extra 10% to their effort and form.
I’d take a draw if you offered to me now…
Also what I love is that even though I`m a bit sceptical about this run because of the teams we`ve played all being games I would normally expect us to win……………we are above the scummy spuds who are having their best start to a season ever with a settled squad and manager, yet we`re in transition and not playing fully to our best which is probably seasons away uintil Dick gets it right !…………………………………..Spuds must be having a fit ! hahaha
Morning Kev, thanks.
I nicked your stats from the other day. Lol
One thing we do know about Emery is that he’ll not underestimate any side so that’s a good start. I think he’ll field a strong team if he wants to ensure we win the group. Totts could soon be in europa….
Love listening to Moronho on Sky claiming his lack of investment cant get him to Juve`s, Mansour City, RM and Barca level !……………….over £400m he has spent !
I know I go on about investment, but it is spending that sort on the right players, Pep buys the right players……….Moronho hasn`t !……………….
Yes Lc, the only talk from the players seems to be about keeping their feet on the ground and improving. I like that, rather than in the old days when so many took freedom of speech too far.
Morning all.
Rico, Arsene did have us playing football like that recently enough, but rarely, and only In fits and starts.
Not for a full 45 minutes, and the problem was often we were already down a goal or two by then lol
Can’t take away from some of the goals scored in recent seasons, but what we saw the other day was just gorgeous football.
Lee, to answer your question on yesterday’s post re Ramsey-buggered If i know hahaha
What i’d like to see happen is they hit the negotiating table again and he and his agent cop a fair salary.
He deserves it, imo, but what he doesn’t deserve is the alleged 200k a week he wanted as he just isn’t consistent enough.
I don’t agree we should just sell him in January or let him go on a free as his talent is a rare one and IF (big if) we do keep him, Emery can hopefully switch him on again to be the player we saw a few seasons back.
How much to replace him is the big question, for mine and though kids like Smith-Rowe are potential replacements, they’ll get manhandled against some of these sides, especially when playing week to week so they just aren’t viable options atm.
In saying all of that, i’d rather we get something for him in January than nothing for him at seasons end.
Rico – My mistake, I’ll try harder next time.
Pedantic Scott. Lol
No worries Cg,I probably didn’t make it clear. But I agree with you anyway, had we beaten a so called to side as we did Leicester, they’d be reasons for it and those reasons wouldn’t be about Arsenal playing well.
The old boys gone so leave him in peace 🙂 🙂
Rico, how about Martial and Rabiot on Bosmans in the summer?
Scott, I’m not sure that Emery can fit both Ozil and Ramsey into the team at the same time?
Ozil is signed to us long term whilst Ramsey is not, so it makes sense to go with the player who is committed to the club.
Ramsey can still do a job for us for the remainder of the season, as an impact sub and in the Cups, but for me Ozil is our No.10 and as long as he is motivated in every game and performs in every game he is the priority.
Ramsey will leave next summer and will probably say in an interview in 2 or 3 years time that he wish he’d stayed at Arsenal. And so it goes….
Good day all, Rico, statistics and history clearly indicate that we have no chance in Lisbon so we may as well stay at home and sulk. Alternatively we can say all of these statistics ARE history and the run of bad results has to end sometime, so why not now?
Lisbon play in a vastly inferior league they are perennial participants in Europa League football without making a significant impact on it, I see no reason why Arsenal should go in fear of them. Okay they may well employ the dark arts, as you suggest, but European officials are much more aware than our own of such tactics and are more than ready to take appropriate action.
Unai Emery has rebuilt the team’s collective confidence, he has made them more tactically aware and I believe we have a very good chance of obtaining the three points on offer.
Can’t disagree with any of that, Kev.
If anyone has a second to spare, you should maybe have a butchers at the tables in the Champions League because there’s going to be a hell of a lot of really dangerous looking teams finishing 3rd in their groups and dropping into the Europa.
Cicero, nobody is suggesting that we can’t win in Lisbon, but you have to be wary of being lulled into a false sense of security and where we are in the food chain.
I’m sure you can recall the English champions Arsenal getting a creditable draw in the Stadium of Light, Lisbon, back in 1992.
Then in the 2nd leg at Highbury, Colin Pates gave us the early lead and it looked plain sailing from then, a comfortable win in the offing. And it was comfortable wasn’t it, a comfortable 3-1 win for Benfica because we got arrogant, or as Gerorge said ‘gung ho’.
Back in 1970, Arsenal went to Lisbon and got a 0-0 draw in the 1st leg, winning the 2nd leg 3-0, that was a team that won the competition and the Double a year later, so it was a great Arsenal team, but we didn’t score in Lisbon.
All I’m saying is be aware of the task and don’t underestimate the opponents, as I’m sure that Emery will not…
Spooky Kev, they are the two I mentioned in a post a few days back. Either would do me, I’m not overly fussy. 😂
My worry is what happens if we lose Torreira…
Agree re Ramsey Kev. Cups are his place now and it’s his own fault. In my head he’s gone now anyway.
Hi Cicero. It’ll be tough but if we’re smart, there’s no reason we can’t win. Or at least draw which like Kev, I’d be happy with.
I saw that too Kev, Totts being one of them…
As I said Kev, it’s all history and has no bearing on the present day, I rather suspect Sporting may be a bit apprehensive about the form Arsenal are showing.
Afternoon all.
Ozil v Ramsey? I think Dick said, after the Leicester game that he could either play Ozil or he could play Ramsey as they play with the same style, a number 10! So, in any game it’s either one or the other but not at the same time. He demonstrated this on Monday when Ozil left to a standing ovation to be replaced by Aaron. It would seem this his tactic for playing them, never together but or the other. Ramsey is not such a good player as Mesut so he will get less game time. I suppose that gives him a good reason to want to leave and he has the exit door in his sights, next summer.
Portugal ars making some very good red wines presently.
Weather here, blue skies, no wind and pleasantly warm. A good gardening/allotment day!
Ah, short term memory loss Rico…. 🙂
Yeah, Torrieira is becoming a vital cog in our team and we have nobody able to cover for the job he does, I’ve seen Guendouzi and Xhaka as a pair and it’s not quite right, maybe if Bielik continues to play well for Charlton and stays fit he might eventually provide some cover for our Uruguayan?
Yes Rico, we have a poor record in europe vs other English teams, playing Tottenham wouldn’t be among my picks for the knockout rounds.
As long as it’s not a little bit of history repeating itself Cicero
I thought Rose was their thing Wavy? Lol
I know the feeling well Kev..
As far as I know (unless rule has changed) Spuds need to finish 3rd to drop into EL . They are currently 3rd on goal difference with no points !……………………………a loss to PSV tonight will be most pleasing and emit a warm glow in my groin area……………. 😆
There’s an ointment you can get to relieve that Le Coq. it is available by prescription only, but an ice-pack will also do the job 😀
Only with your mate(u)s Rico 😀😀
As he got a mention Torrieri. He’s a player you never see or notice, as was Gilberto. I reckon he’s that good. An absolutely crucial cog in the ever smoothing Arsenal wheel.
That’s bad Wavy. Lol
Agree re Torreira, just goes about his business calmly and quietly. Very similar to Gilberto in that sense.
No need for ice pack, Cicero, as Spuds drew ! 🙁
Spuds best ever team has 1 point from 3 CL games !……………………………Ice pack you say ?
😀
Gotta love that lot, LC 🙂
Some fantastic pictures of the team training on the Sporting pitch on Arsenal.com, seems to be a great spirit in this group.
Morning all.
New post up now.
Just watched the video Kev, I see what you mean..