The only problem I had with Martin Zubimendi’s transfer was for the games like today. Newcastle will try to bully us again with their physicality, they will cheat, kick, slide tackle, punch, elbow you and the referees will look for that blonde girl in the stadium while it happens. We have seen Partey getting kicked, we have seen Jorginho getting elbowed, and we have seen Saka getting pushed. As much as I hate those cunts, they know we are a bit soft and they know the refs will turn a blind eye to that.
Will a midfield of Zubimendi, Merino and Rice match up to their physicality and assault? We will see.
Eddie Nketiah, the ex-arsenal who was wearing #14 later for us helped us last night by scoring a last minute goal against the luck-riding Liverpool. He scored a brilliant one, made sure the bin dippers lose the first 3 points of the season and gave us a chance to close the gap to just 2 points today. Whether we take this opportunity is an entirely different conversation because we have given up on the title 3 seasons now after getting such chances and not converting it. It’s too early for the title but three points are three points.
During my time in London, I visited a friend living in Newcastle near to the St. James’ Park. He offered me a stadium tour, I was hardly interested in visiting a club’s stadium that was mid-table at best so I declined. Since then, they had a ownership change, Eddie Howe have converted them into a serious team who are challenging everyone for European places and could beat any of top premier league teams on their day. Sure, they have lost Isak but that’s just one piece they have lost and we can’t take them lightly today, again.
In the team news, Madueke is unavailable because of his knee injury that has sidelined him for 2 months, but Odegaard could be back today. We have got Eze and Nwaneri that can do far better than Merino in an attacking role but Mikel is adamant that it’s either Ode or Merino – so I guess we would have to pray Ode’s shoulder heals itself completely. With Saka back in the XI, I hope we see a front 3 of him, Gyokeres and Martinelli today. If I was the one in charge, Eze makes it in the team behind Gyokeres while only one of the Zubimendi or Rice starts the game.
Personally, I would also allow the players to earn a yellow card each while handing them a piece of paper before the game that reads – Dee as ya telt. They would have the freedom to earn it as they want. If you are too nice and don’t have the heart to do it, you are getting replaced by Ben White, no matter where you play on the pitch.
In other news, William Saliba signed an improved contract that will keep him in London till 2030. Did you see his interview post signing it? In Paris, my mates were supporting Madrid and Barcelone while I am the real one supporting Arsenal – he said. A proppa one, we have and we have got his next and best 5 years with us. Hopefully he will win a lot of trophies with us and hopefully we break the drought this year with Champions League.
Right, that’s all for today. See you during the game.
If all we cared about was playing “meaningful” games next Spring, this plan would likely do the trick, but if we’re looking to be a top 2 side in Europe, we can’t continue to rollout this blunt instrument plan
Wicksy
A Gabriel header in extra time got us the win. We would have been saying 20 shots on target is of no use if we can’t convert and win a game.
We have played City, United, Liverpool and Newcastle and we are just 2 point shy of the Liverpool.
Our next 6 games are against West Ham, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Sunderland and Spurs. Easy ones except the Palace game but we need to get 17 out of possible 18 points.
Ambarish ,i questioned you saying the only positive out of the game was gyokeres, for me 20 shots away at Newcastle is a massive positive and showed our intention in the game from the first to last minute.
Also the fact that we were still looking to win the 3 points in injury time is a positive as it would have been easy to sit back and settle for the draw.
Personally I didn’t see gyokeres performance as a positive, he had a number of half chances , 6 shots I think they said , but I can’t remember him giving the keeper a save to make , his first touch in front of goal let him down a couple of times and for a striker the first touch is everything, and from memory he was slow to get his shot away a couple of times, a top striker needs a short backlift to get the shot away otherwise he will be closed down.
Anyway , we will be able to judge gyokeres after the next run of games in October (4 at home)where he should have more chances to impress in front of goal and I for one hopes that he does impress, also it will be interesting to see how Arteta’s team selection pans out with Odegaard back , I have a feeling Eze will be put wide left as I can’t see the zubimendi/rice partnership being disrupted, we are fast becoming a squad with an exceptional bench as players return from injury.
The gyokeres penalty incident would have been given if the decision was consistent with previous incidents where there has been a touch on the ball but still made contact with the attacker.
A case in point is when the head of the pgmol defended the decision to give Brighton a penalty last season despite saliba having a touch on the ball , he said the touch on the ball was irrelevant ( or words to that effect) so it will be interesting to see if he defends the decision to NOT allow the penalty this time.
Personally I believe that in an incident such as these if a keeper or defender does get a touch on the ball before contact is made with the player then it should not be a penalty /free kick , but the rules apparently state that the touch is irrelevant according to Howard Webb so the penalty should have been awarded.
As for the Gabriel handball , they got that one right as the ball was deflected from close range onto his hand , that would have been a very harsh penalty that is rarely if ever given these days due to the close proximity of the ball being deflected onto the hand .
talk about knowing how to silence a room with utter nonsense
Wicksy
I was happy to see it and more than happy for the win. That took us closer to Liverpool while we played City, Newcastle, United and Pool themselves.
However, there are still some things to think. We won because of 2 goals from set pieces. You can win some games but not the title with only set pieces.
The reason we still fought for a win was because of the attacking changes Mikel made. Merino came for Calafiori, that’s a very bold move to bring in a attacking player by replacing your LB. We haven’t seen Arteta done that earlier. He wasn’t shy to replace a tired Saka with Martinelli and all this happened before 70th minute. Replacing Zubimendi with Odegaard also helped.
Sure this was positive and we want to see more of it.
With regard to Gyokeres performance, I compared his performance from the last game. He is certainly moving better, always looks for that run and that not-given penalty is a good example. He will only improve from here as he understands the players around him and the way we play.
–
So, yeah, it wasn’t all negatives, but we need more open play goals and we need Arteta to do more what he did in last 20 minutes against Newcastle. Let us just say I have always been critical of the manager managing my team rather than hating him.
trvl
You broke the silence 😅
TRVL
“talk about knowing how to silence a room with utter nonsense”
Oh dear , trolling again , though you are not very good at it.
The only reason the room is silenced is because Arsenal deservedly won an important football match at one of the hardest grounds to get a result in the league..
I know and understand how it works on here , Arsenal lose and the blog comes alive . It could be a very uncomfortable ride for many of you for the next 8 months or so as we dominate in the 2 big competitions.
All I can say is try and enjoy Arsenal outplaying a very strong, physical side like Newcastle , and yes both of our goals were from set pieces but we made plenty of chances from open play that brought a man of the match performance from the Newcastle keeper.
And Ambarish , I am in no doubt that you want Arsenal to succeed , just don’t let the usual suspects on here cloud your judgement with their negativity and obvious agenda against the manager.
Take it from me , you will never be able to change their opinions on Arteta, if Arsenal do win the league this season (and they may) let’s hope they can eat humble pie and recognise the achievement…somehow I doubt it.
it’s funny how someone who has spoken about Arteta in a negative fashion on numerous occasions simply flips a switch and goes into full-slurp mode as soon as a result goes our way…obviously the former was/is simply done to the appease the masses, you fabricating numpty…maybe you should just own your shit for real and stop talking out both sides of your mouth…it’s clear that you’re nothing more than a run-of -the-mill Arteta-loving tin foil hat wearing blunt instrument, who somehow mistakenly believes that he/she’s the smartest person in the room, which couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to this particular “room”….you give off some serious textbook only child vibes
btw no need to kiss our host’s ass with an open mouth, as he’s already more you than most of us, when it comes to club-related matters, but he’s never employed any of your flatter to deceive or divide and conquer amateur hour techniques…if I don’t agree with him, I say so, and if he doesn’t agree with me, he does likewise, no childish games required…lights out little guy!
I’ve been saying all season that Liverpool are over rated, let’s see how they come out of these couple of poor performances and defeats, the injury to Allison won’t help as he has been their best player this season , the new full backs are average and defensively Liverpool are being found out .
I do still rate their midfield and attack , I did say salah without Trent may struggle but I wouldn’t write him off yet , they do have 2 excellent strikers and they may need them to bail them out as their defence leaks goals, let’s see what liverpool’s reserve keeper is like.
The calm exterior of slot is about to be tested , it looks like it is already beginning to crack , Chelsea away this weekend will be interesting, they have history and the Stamford bridge crowd will create an intimidating atmosphere.
Wicksy
Liverpool have not been playing well since the start of the season and have been vulnerable at the back which then makes you wonder why Captain Fuckwit would go to Liverpool and be so negative?
He only went more aggressive at Newcastle because people are starting to ask questions.
Marc
I agree that Liverpool haven’t been playing well and yet the media , pundits and rival fans have been talking about them as if the league was a formality just because they had won their opening 5 games….Those results didn’t fool me .
As for Arsenal being negative at Liverpool there could be an argument that Arteta could have played a more attacking line up, I don’t particularly like the midfield 3 of Merino, Rice and zubimendi and I doubt if we will see those 3 again as Odegaard is now fit , Eze has settled in and Nwaneri is playing with maturity.
Also to defend Arteta , playing Liverpool 3rd game of the season with 3 new signings in the starting line up (gyokeres, zubimendi and Madueke) it is understandable to a point why he wanted us to be solid in midfield but they and Eze have fully settled in now so there should be no protecting of players from now on.
Marc—great points…let’s remember that it’s going to take a little time for them to figure out what to do with both Isak and Hugo…not to mention, Isak’s only been there for a cup of coffee…interestingly enough the guy who score for Gala was the Striker we should have gone after
Matchday post is live.