The performance was meh and not only from our highly anticipated signing Victor G. The back line looked shaky, midfield didn’t control the game like we do, and the front 3 was so poor Mikel had to sub the striker and the LW in the 60th minute. Havertz was on the pitch in place of the Gyokeres and Madueke got his first game in Arsenal shirt.
There was nothing positive to take away from the game except those 3 sweet points and a clean sheet. Raya was superb and did some brilliant saves to keep us in the game. The United fans were furious for the goal they conceded, counting as a blatant foul and obstruction, but they ignored the same thing happening at the other end when Raya was surrounded but he made it to look like an easy one by punching the ball away comfortably.
I get it, the first game of the season, away from home at Old Trafford, it’s always going to be difficult. Plus, the new signings from them in Cunha and Mbuemo were ridiculously good – so good that they both contributed an equal amount of shots on target that we managed as a team, which made it worse for us. We lacked cohesiveness in the midfield and Zubimendi will take some time to deliver what Partey used too. Our captain was poor, Saka was not at his best, Martinelli had to be subbed, White wasn’t having a good day and Saliba looked shaky as well.
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News of the hour is that Kai Havertz has picked up a knee injury and it looks to be pretty bad. There’s no official club announcement yet Ornstein has reported it and he is usually right about Arsenal. He also said that we are now looking to address the Havertz’s unavailability by going back into the market. I don’t understand why we are after replacing a back up player but not my circus, not my monkey.
There’s another one of its kind development around Trossard. We have renewed his wages but not the contract. I don’t know who comes up with these kinds of ideas because we are talking about a player who we should have sold this summer to raise money. Now, it’s even more difficult to sell him because he earns more per week. It can mean two things though – either our LW reinforcement is over or we are going to sell Martinelli and didn’t want to have 3 new faces and the left wing. Still about 10 days to go, so we will know.
There’s another breaking news from some journos – Mikel was seen switching Saka and Madueke on the wings in training. I doubt he is going to play the best right winger in the world, out of his position. It could just be a tactic for more flexibility in the game where the wingers switch positions to create more chaos. Usually, Saka is surrounded by defenders and switching him to the LW can cause confusion to the opponents.
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Right, that’s all for today. We have a game coming up this Saturday and I will be back before then.
Ambarish
Yeah I don’t think the Kroenke’s (that’s the good guys who own the club not the dodgy one on here!) are going for it and want titles.
Arteta’s spending has to be close to a billion £ – that’s around $1.3 billion with not much brought in the other way and that’s before you consider he inherited Saliba, Saka and Martinelli (how much would they cost a club to buy?).
KP—based on how the Kroenke’s have operated with their other sporting franchises, I would suspect that it’s major siverware or bust for Arteta…as for myself, I’m cautiously optimistic about our chances both here and abroad because we now have some players who can get shit done in.spite of the manager…I still don’t trust that MA will put us in the best position to win, but I do think that Havertz being unavailable will force him out of his comfort zone, much like against Real late last season
even though we didn’t perform well against United, it’s clear that we were attempting to play a more direct and less possession-dependent brand of football…so I wouldn’t be surprised if we lined up vastly differently before the first international break, with Saka and Noni switching sides, Eze playing opposite of Ode and VG up top…maybe we’ll even try some 3-backer sets, with Zubi and Rice acting as double-pivots, to help facilitate the above-mentioned front side…OR we could do the same old shit, only with a shitload of rotational nonsense, then MA gets rightly sacked…I’m good with either
Marc—you seem to forget that the Korenke sporting empire is the most succcessful and lucrative in the world (over the last half-decade)…unfortunately they made the mistake of handing the keys to a 30-phase wunderfuck of a faux manager…every single time they’ve signed off on massive expenditures they’ve required results and got them…of course, American sports are somewhat different, due to them all having a playoff format to determine a champion, so maybe this latest round of player investment is being viewed as his last kick at the can
Marc
You can never have too many talented footballers in a squad ,, especially as these days it is the bench that regularly makes the difference between winning or drawing a football match, and that is why we failed last season as the squad wasn’t quite deep enough to get us over the line as we had to play a defensive midfielder up top and a 17 year old out wide and had nothing on the bench to change the game.
If you think back to our team under wenger , he had a multitude of options in attack like Henry , Bergkamp, Ljungberg, Pires, kanu , wiltord , reyes, suker , so I am happy to see the increased options for Arteta though I’m a realist to know that the present bunch can’t hold a candle to the attack that wenger put together and of course wenger allowed them to express themselves and play with freedom , something Arteta still struggles with due to his strict tactical formation.
The future looks bright with our 4 hale enders(saka, Skelly, Nwaneri Dowman)and players like Eze and zubimendi who are all technically superb.
Arteta until this window has opted for tall, physical players recently like Rice, Merino , Havertz and calafiori , but this window the arrival of zubimendi and Eze will hopefully see us go in a different direction to a more technical side especially as we have the excellent skelly and Nwaneri competing for a first team place.
It is a difficult balancing act for the manager as we need to stay solid defensively but we also need to take more risks with the ball if we want create more chances as we can’t just rely on set pieces, will Arteta allow more freedom of expression I’m not so sure .
Yeah I don’t think the Kroenke’s (that’s the good guys who own the club not the dodgy one on here!) are going for it and want titles.
Marc – I’m indebted to you for not bracketing me with those two awful schlaaaags!
KP—I can totally understand your skepticism, as I banged that drum until they backed Arteta in an unprecedented manner, but I think that their mindset has changed a bit ever since they tasted winning…maybe it’s been the influence of Stan’s Bond villian wannabe son, Josh, who appears more concerned with such matters, even though he continually puts his foot into his mouth on this side of the Atlantic…let’s face it, they could have easily turned the spigot off after MA continually came up short, but this year’s spending could actually exceed that of two years ago, if we don’t sell anyone of consequence between now and the closing of the window
just to clarify my early comments, I’m neither a fan of the Kroenke’s ownership model, minus their willingness to spend “our” money nowadays, nor am I, in any way shape or form, of the belief that MA can get even this side over the line…I do however believe that some of our more recent signings, specifically those on the offensive side of the ball, including the re-upping of Ethan, bodes well for our future
if and likely when MA drops the ball again I think changes will be forthcoming and, due to our more recent additions, I’m fairly certain we will be viewed as an incredibly attractive option…for that reason alone I’m a big backer of the Eze hire, as he suggests that a more direct brand of football is in the offing (maybe Sanchez-esque)…whether or not it comes now or after a managerial change, matters very little (the sooner the better of course)
as for this season, we all know that MA could have simply starved VG for service, like he’s done in the past with a more traditional Striker, and then shoehorn Noni on his off-wing, for the purposes of supplying crosses not goals, but I think the addition of Eze, who doesn’t fit MA’s preferred schematics whatsoever, makes it next to impossible for him to lean into his indirect pedestrian ways…at least not without a considerable backlash from the fanbase…so here’s hoping that the horse is officially out of the barn and it’s sink or swim time for our little fucktard
earlier comments
shoehorned Noni
that’s what happens when you bake and post
TRVL
I would agree with that, all these spendings suddenly is major hint that it’s either all or nothing for Arteta. His last chance to get us a meaningful trophy.
Wicksy
We were poor defensively under Wenger for years, managing with the likes of Mustafi and Bellerin. With Gabriel and Saliba, we have it covered now.
Mikel certainly needs to stop drinking that beer sponsored by Mourinho and play some attacking football. If two CBs that will cost 80m to get, two DMs that costed us 100m and 60m can’t handle it and then no one can.
I would love a team that’s set up like this –
Raya
Timber/White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori/MLS
Ode/Nwaneri, Zubimendi/Rice, Eze
Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli/Madueke
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I don’t think we should have both Zubimendi and Rice on the same pitch just like we didn’t want it with Partey and Rice.
It’s been long since we played some good, entertaining football despite scoring so many goals and finishing 2nd trice in a row.
Happy to know I’m living in a world where Eze is an Arsenal player and that the Spuds are fucked.
We were poor defensively under Wenger for years, managing with the likes of Mustafi and Bellerin. With Gabriel and Saliba, we have it covered now.
Ambarish
Add the names Senderos, Djourou, Stepanovs, Luzhny, Squillaci and Andre Silva and you appreciate the full horror of our defence. There are bound to be more – others might want to contribute.
GKs were arguably even weaker.
ALMUNIA? SAY NO MORE!
Ambarish et al
Raya
Timber/White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori/MLS/Kiwior
Ode/Nwaneri, Zubimendi/Rice, Eze
Saka/Dowman, Gyokeres, Martinelli/Madueke
Amen to that selection with a couple of additions, except Rice will want to play LAM (8).
This is where TRVL and Marc especially have worried about the shoehorning of MA’s pets with their own preferred positions regardless if they are their best.
Eze is being touted to be having his medical today. I know AF you’re rightfully down on this as underwhelming, but ai feel Eze might be better then we think as Palace was never going to be a place to really shine like it was when Palace were Zaha centric.
I feel Eze ticks all the boxes for our 8 or false 9. He can pivot with Marts or Noni, and has a lazy look of ghosting into positions unseen. I also think Eze will be a great influence on Dowman and Ethan.
At least we have someone who can shoot with both feet from outside the box.
I think TVRL is right and KSE has given MA what he needs where there can be no excuses for failure missing out on the season’s top honors.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Enrique gets his misfiring PSG to being invincible again.
I’m looking forward to this season more then I have been for many seasons, not because I believe we can win a major trophy this season, but because I think Bertha is going to have KSE’s and Tim Lewes’s ears far more then MA has had over his almost 6 years, which should never have been and probably a big reason why Edu left.
This symbiotic relationship MA has enjoyed with Josh and co now has a Bertha wedge in it because just maybe KSE has had enough of excuses and unintelligible rants in the press from our failing project manager.
I could be completely wrong here, of course, probably am, but somehow my gut keeps telling me MA is going to fall on his sword this season, where finally excuses are not enough to save him.
Sweet dreams?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMFqkcPYcg
Squad wise MA has about a 20 player squad he should be able to trust for most games. Above are 17 names, with adding the new young Spain RB, Mosquera, Norgaard & the senseless re-upping of Trossard.
Zinny, Jesus and co (including Havertz) need to be moved on now, just to clear their wages and add 2 or 3 more Hale Enders for now who are next in line to start getting experience.
Tony
Watch Eze take that penalty again in the Charity shield
The lack of technique, the silly run.
If he were 24 , not 27 and we had a decent coach , it might make sense.
I am calling it now, he will be a dud signing. Like Noseshit, Madueke, Gykores, Jesus ,Merino, and most of the overrated cunts.
We don’t sign proper players, we sign you tube players.
Rice, Partey and Zubimnedi are proper players , but because we other clubs know we are a laughing stock, they charge us millions for them.
And where is silly bollocks going to play him?
Cutting in from the left into all the traffic?
AF
Fair comment, I’m banking on MA’s galaxy brain once again being tested to the max when under severe pressure. I wanted Elisse before he went to BM, so Eze is the 2nd best here.
Problem is when have we ever gone for the right elite players Wenger could have signed? Even Wenger’s best buys with Henry and Paddy, Pires, Overmars et al, we rarely, if ever, paid more than the top clubs were spending until the end when Wenger was running on fumes.
When MU spent £30+M on players, we spent £12m; there has always been a big difference in our buying power. When we did have money Wenger wouldn’t buy for fear of failure.
Now we have the money, we still buy 2nd best because the elite don’t want to play for MA and his myopic projects. Did Rice come to us because we were his best option? City were interested as were others in Europe, I believe. Rice chose us as TRVL said sometime back because Rice dictated the terms of his positional play, which galaxy brain loved and sadly still does and why we are failing.
So, for us, Eze is deemed a good buy by me, who wanted Eze instead of Merino, and others where the AKBs will be seeing the next coming of Zaha joining us.
Eze will exceed Pepe’s tallies With us is my view, but won’t fulfill his potential under MA, who probably has him as Marts replacement to begin with.
No way is Rice giving up the 8 shirt without Bertha intervening is what’s in my mind, for whatever that is worth.
Art, who would you want as the next manager? Do you have a short list?
Tony
Fabregas is a gem.
Brentfords sudden demise, shows how good Frank was and he is another one we could have had.
Conte seems to win leagues everywhere he goes.
Klopp, Enrique obviously.
Like managers that are authentic and have charisma. And who are not cunts.
The next manager will have some job though, because he will inherit a squad of very average players. Most of them hugely overrated by the fanbase and the all money will have been spunked.