Let’s not fool ourselves. We are playing against Man United, with a relatively new manager, with lots of new players with little or no chemistry and Harry Maguire. At home, any point dropped against the current Man United is a loss. Most importantly, we have strengthened our team spending 200m+ and winning these sorts of games are the difference between a Premier League winner and runner ups.
WIN. Anything less is unacceptable. It’s a home game with 60k people cheering their hearts out for 90 odd minutes and the players and manager need to give them back the same love.
Right, that’s on the emotional front.
Arteta was out there justifying Havertz’s performance in his first three games in Red and White, by referencing Ben White at RB experiment, Saka’s movement from LB to RW, Xhaka’s performance, Odegaard’s first two months and then some more. The only problem with this analogy is that, we were re-building a team at that time, and we lost a lot of games in that process. It’s 4year+ for him as Arsenal manager now, and if he expects the same judgement for a player bought for 65m, then he is deluded. Kai will be judged harshly. Mikel will be judged harshly. Every player and staff that’s seen on camera will be judged. Because, we finished second and we spent money to be better than that.
In the team news, Tomiyasu is back for selection after a red card. I’m sure now Partey is going to start at RB because Arteta is stubborn and I was wrong in guessing that he will switch back to the playing XI that worked pretty well for us last season. Kai is going to start again. Nketiah, after doing well for the game time he has got, will be replaced by Jesus because… why not.
The only things consistent in the current setup are Saka at RW, Martinelli at LW and Arteta’s stubbornness.
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It’s going to be a long season with lots of games, and we have let go Holding for pennies and Tierney on a loan. Timber is injured, leaving us short in the defence. Or, rather, Edu and Mikel thought it’s a good idea to let two defenders go after discovering that a player they brought in has sustained a season-long injury. If they cry for help later, they should be shut down by someone at the club. You can’t create problems at first and then ask for a fix.
I’m sorry, I was frustrated when I found out we let go Holding for a meagre 1m to Crystal Palace. It’s not like CP plays in the Championship. It’s not like Rob Holding is a bad defender who is here at Arsenal for 6 weeks. We are talking about a defender who has won things, at one of the biggest clubs in history and is still 27 years of age. 5 solid years ahead of him.
Anything less than a win against United is just going to further alleviate this frustration.
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We must win against a poor United, with no CF, Varane out with injuries, Onana still settling and Then Hag only aware of counter attacking football. We have a team in form, with no significant injuries and a much better bench in Trossard, Rice, fit ESR, Nketiah, fit Tomiyasu etc. There are no excuses, let’s beat them and show who the boss is.
If you still ask me, I would like us to settle back to White at RB and Gabriel + Saliba partnering at CB. Partey in the midfield, compliment with Rice or Kai. Nketiah should start ahead of Jesus.
We should also be careful about the f*ck ups we do once in a while. Champions are concentrated for the whole 90 min in their minds, even if their body doesn’t support.
I hope we end the weekend on a good note. A win will boost the player’s confidence and 10 out of 12 points is a good place to be in. This is going to be a hell of a season, and we need to make the most when we can. At some point, we will be visiting Anfield and Etihad, where ‘not losing’ would be a good result, so let’s make the most of tomorrow.
Right, that’s all me done. I’m in the clouds celebrating my 31st with little or no network, but will be back by tomorrow’s match.
Hope you are well, and having a good weekend.
Cheers.
We’re playing Bar codes 2.0
Our shape is much better today : much like last season for our good games.
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Going to be a tight game.
nothing like having Havertz and Eddie in the box together with silver platter opportunities on offer…I would suggest there’s no such thing with this duo on the pitch
Seriously… Arteta needs a fucking psychologist.
well at least Havertz got an assist…classic Arsenal, concede on the first attempt on goal
Fun and games at the emirates
good on Ode, as that might have been one of his most decisive strikes in our kit
Saka’s being wrestled. Not looking at Cunty Bruno and gets a yellow! Ref is a complete cunt!
between the poor first touches and amateur hour passing, you simply can’t have Eddie and Havertz on the pitch together…I’m assuming MA doesn’t feel that Jesus can handle the starting quite yet, which is why Eddie is playing, but this can’t go on for too long, as Eddie is a poor man’s version in every single facet
Heat maps will probably show the game mostly played in the middle of the pitch with only one shot each on target resulting in goals. Everything else has been unremarkable from both teams.
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Hoping for a more end to end game as it gets stretched with us looking more likely to score – just!
Heat maps will probably show the game mostly played in the middle of the pitch with only one shot each on target resulting in goals. Everything else has been unremarkable from both teams.
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Hoping for a more end to end game as it gets stretched with us looking more likely to score – just!
TRVL
We sold Bolagun and should have sold Eddie.
Kai Havertz is an absolute joke, which is oK, but Arteta singing paens of praise shows either total lack of understanding of football or devious padding up.
Sackable offence
and please take the pedrogizer along for gratification
you know I that I absolutely detest saying so, but, based on what has transpired thus far, we were more effective going forward with GD Xhaka and Partey in the starting mix
Tony-the only explanation for this decision, besides the obvious fact that Balo raised the ire of our fragile manager during his last re-upping, is that MA has no interest whatsoever in adding some much-needed directness to our attack…fucking baffling
if you look at our bench, minus Jesus, there’s not a sole on our roster who MA truly favours, which is why we needed to make at least one addition before the window closed
Partey is one player who plays positive football picking that pass everytime. That’s vthe reason the ball goes so decisively into scoring positions after it is cycled through Partey.
Partey is so crucial, his slight frailty should have been managed. Instead he has been played as a sole AM as last year and deployed in intensive roles this year
Hoopah-if we had brought in Rice, then load managed the shit out of Partey, which means rarely, if ever, playing them together, we would have shored up our DM position for the next couple of years…then in order to get more out of the 8 hole position we needed to target a pacey midfielder who could both unlock defences and pot 10+ goals, instead we got a tweener who appears to have none of these requisite capabilities besides having some pace
He’s hardly touched him, but there’s contact. Isn’t that enough?
KP-Havertz clipped him on his own…that wasn’t a penalty…we showed have known better as it involved two things we rarely see, a good pass by Eddie, in the box no less, and Havetz doing something of some note
we need to get Jesus on, especially now that their new Striker and Harry are on the pitch
we need to get some fresh blood on, as we’re inviting too much pressure now
***should have known better
where the fuck are the subs…tired passes and sitting too deep
still no ESR???
Havertz appears as oblivious as MA so he’s probably dumbfounded by being subbed off
let’s hope we set up Vieira for a shot from distance at some point soon
White has been largely useless at both ends today
we must be one of the worst finishing squads in all of Europe….thank goodness we properly redressed that in the summer
Saka mate, just go for the corners of the goal.
we have such little directness in our attack that United have actually put both Harry and Evans on the pitch at the same time
It’s offside
You could see it was off on the TV
Rice!
Gabriel Jesus 3rd goal was a old Martinelli moment
two important goals, from a positive mentality standpoint…Rice’s required a deflection, a post and more than a little help from Gabs, whereas Jesus’s might have seemed like more of an afterthought, his show of class is incredibly pertinent for us moving forward…breathless finish, just wasn’t sure if we were going to end up on the right side of things
Hoopah
Too true mate. The way he dummied Dalot was a thing 9f beauty.
Can I be the first one to say it was a pretty average game til Garnacho’s goal was disallowed? Rice’s goal had Nelson vibes from last year against Bournemouth.
Right! Can we drop the Partey at RB nonsense and get back to last seasons best and improving on that?
Late here and Zebadee is calling…….
‘Night’ said Florence. 🎠