‘Did you think you had Eze’ – asked a reporter from Thomas Frank. Thomas, appointed only recently as the manager of a shite club, responded in an attempt to create some humour by asking back –
‘Who is Eze?’
Well, he just scored a hattrick in a NLD after 47 fucking years and by the time 90 mins were done, Spurs fans were already at home, probably sobbing and blaming the cold. If you are one of those and delusional enough to think you own North London, let me just say that even with a 4-1 win, we were more frustrated than you lot because we couldn’t keep a clean sheet. You are used to losses so that was just a regular day for you.
Right, that was a brilliant evening for us Gooners. A 4-1 victory over Spurs, at Home, hat-trick from the man who had almost joined Spurs but the club brought him to Emirates in the last minutes, Saka dancing and fans staying and singing once the match was over. And we did all this without our first choice striker, and our best defensive player while Hincapie started his first game in place of Gabriel. Our captain was missing too.
We took the lead in the 36th minute when Mikel Merino set up a beautiful ball to Trossard who, very precisely, put it into the nets. Eze, doubled the lead in 5 minutes when he put the ball into the nets courtesy of Rice’s assist. We went into the break 2-0 and Frank made some changes hoping he could turn it around. I am pretty sure he is aware of the spursy nature of that team but hey, he is paid enough to at least try. Eze made it 3-0 only 1 minute into the second half, assisted by Timber but that lad was dreaming of something more.
Richarlison scored a good one from far away. When you play a high line and your goal keeper is involved in setting things up, this can happen. I don’t mind it more than Raya, who would be furious to not add this game to another one of his clean sheets. Frank made some more changes but Eze scored his 3rd in the 76th minute and made sure that no one but the red and whites celebrate the day.
Spurs were so shite we didn’t even need to use set pieces to beat them.
We had finished 2nd, three seasons in a row. We lost points in dead games, injuries derailed us and there were some very odd decisions from the manager. This season, we lost our best defender and yet Hincapie finished his 1st full game with a 9.5/10. Odegaard is out injured but Eze comes in and does better. I was doubting Trossard but he has proven that he can play better than Martinelli when he is given a chance. We have a saucy striker who looks adapted now, was out injured but we didn’t miss him. Saka was world class and will remain so.
Now, onto the next game in Champions League tonight against Bayern. Only 3 teams are with a perfect score so far, and two of them are playing each other today. Bayern sits at top of the table with equal points and same goal difference but have scored 3 extra goals than us. That also means we have conceded 3 less than them, in fact, we have conceded fuck-all so far in 4 games in the group stages and Bayern will test that today. We will be without our best CB partnership but Hincapie dropped a bombshell of a performance against Spurs so I am not really bothered.
To finish in top 8 and avoid 2 extra qualifying games later, we have to win at least 6 of the 8 games. After today, we will be playing Club Brugge, Inter and Kairat. Inter Milan is the third team with all wins so far. Frankly, it’s not a do or die situation for us but there’s always some uncertainty in Champions League. We saw Chelsea beating Barcelona last night, and Newcastle losing to Merseille thanks to 2 goals from the ex-Arsenal man, Aubameyang. Anything can happen, so make the most out of what’s in front of you.
Martinelli and Madueke are back in the team. Odegaard might also be available, though I doubt Mikel will bench the hattrick man for him. Mikel, when asked about facing Bayern, had to say this –
For sure, this is the kind of game in the competition that we want to face, and we’ve been very consistent in both competitions; they have been as well, and tomorrow is a great test for us to see where we are.
source:Arsenal.com
A very challenging game indeed, and the one which will highlight whether we have progressed to win something of importance of this year. Beat Bayern today and the boys will go home in confidence. Also, there can be only one team sitting at the top and we would love to be the one.
See you during the game.
Martinez is back to his s.o.b best . Saw it was Saka who backed into him and did a series to get him a 2nd yellow
Mullen missed 2 sitters already
So El B going full lockdown. Better a draw and point than a grin on Emery face
Had a premonition when Emery exposed his canines and ..
We are down 1-2
Buendia essa noche
Villa have had more than enough chances to win the match so Arteta can’t moan and bitch – of course he will.
Well done Mr.Emery.
Putting the cunt in his place.
The result is what it is my main thoughts are:
1) If you give a manager with a rep for shoehorning players too many toys you can’t be surprised when he plays players out of position. Eze’s a really good player but he’s not a winger.
2) Are we seeing what some of us thought all along – that Arteta doesn’t want to play a striker? What does Merino starting in front of Gyokeres mean for when Havertz comes back?
Beyond all of that Hincapie looks a good accusation.
Art
If only that meant the dole queue!
Marc
We can only wish.
But we have a clueless cunt of a fanbase, so we are stuck with the moronic cunt.
But fair play to the likeable Emery. Has Villa up in 2nd.
He has to be in the top 3 coaches.
Enrique, Ancelloti, Emery?
The not so big spenders 2 – one of the biggest spenders 1. Emery with a huge smile on his face races to the changing room for a quick pint of O rhesus positive.
Art
I think Emery is one of those managers who’s best suited to a smaller club that he then over achieves with getting CL / winning cups etc.
Not sure he’s the right guy for a ManU or Liverpool for example. Arteta’s the complete opposite needs a massive club with buckets of money who don’t actually expect you to achieve anything – we may be unique in that at Arsenal.
So the replay of Fulham vs Man City . Could have been a draw if not for a goalmouth save. But more notable was to see ESR get out of his shell and get into the face like of old . Maybe given testeterone shots
Marc
You are not wrong.
The problem with this cunt is that the budget is never big enough.
even our resident empty calorie take self-fluffer Pricksy knew that MA would travel with one point on his mind…this is why I wanted to see the difference, if any, between how MA set things up on the road against the better sides, with this deep squad, versus last season and to no one’s surprise he’s proved himself to be a rinse and repeat fucktard…of course there will be those who will say that based on the balance of play, especially when it came to much of the second half, that we deserved a better fate, but when we basically shut things down after the 77th minute we opened the door for Villa…who knows what impact that late tally will ultimately have on the title race, but it certainly didn’t help our cause
Marc—you know my thoughts on MA’s shoehorning predilictions…continually playing Merino up top is like a love letter from our manager to his favourite flopping fuck, Havertz…this isn’t to suggest that Merino’s a hack, far from it in fact, but any manager with goals on his mind would deploy an actual Striker then play Merino in the 8 hole, as he would present opposing sides with a problem when entering the box late…he’s a much better finisher than Rice, who should be deployed deeper, instead of Zubi, then given the green light to come forward on occasion…as for Eze, either we need a manager who knows how to play more than one formation or have him compete directly with Ode for the 10 by giving them an equal amount of time until one of them wins the starting job…the busy Xmas schedule would provide him with a prefect opportunity to figure this shit out
Let’s be honest, gyokeres is not very good , he’s technically poor , runs like he’s in quick sand , he’s slow to get his shot away , poor football brain , poor movement in the opposition box and can’t trap a bag of cement.
On the plus side he is a trier and will probably score 15 or so goals this season but my fear is if we persist with him he will cost us the title as his link play is not up to scratch.
Havertz has his detractors on here but he is a better option than gyokeres, and a fit jesus is definitely worth a run in the side though I know others think different.
Like others, I’m not keen on Eze on the wing , the return of odegaard gives Arteta a headache as the midfield 3 was working really well before odegaard returned.
Villa are a very good side who will give any team a problem as they attack with great movement off the ball, have lots of bodies in the box and play slick one and 2 touch football in and around the box.
Losing today is no disgrace , it was a good game of football that could have gone either way, the league is very open with the top teams struggling away from home as I predicted .
Today we saw Arsenal lose and also Chelsea and Liverpool drew away from home against lowly opposition .
92 points is the average points total for the champions over the last 8 years , I’d be surprised if any team makes it to 82 points this season as the league is so demanding.
This week at brugge is an ideal time to rest players and give fringe players a run out , we have more or less qualified for the top 8 with 3 games to play so I see no reason to risk the likes of rice, Zubimendi, Timber, , saka, hincape as we have many players who need minutes on the pitch to be ready for the upcoming games.
Wolves next week in the league should be a formality , let’s hope saliba is back next week .
“Let’s be honest, gyokeres is not very good , he’s technically poor , runs like he’s in quick sand , he’s slow to get his shot away , poor football brain , poor movement in the opposition box and can’t trap a bag of cement.”
Then why did Arteta spend £60 million on him?
Wicksy – you’re writing a narrative to support Arteta playing Havertz rather than an actual striker because you know he’s going to do it.
Marc—also because most Artetites see VG as a Berta pick, so he was always going to be a scapegoat…anyone who has ever watched him knows that MA would need to deviate from his predominantly horizontal ways in order to properly incorporate him into the lineup…Havertz is a poor man’s Merino, from a Striker perspective…so we might scratch and crawl our way to a PL title, as the overall level of play this year is quite poor, in large part because many our following our blunt instrument model, but we ain’t winning the CL with the same scheme and either of our flop-masters leading the line…btw let’s not forget that two of their more influential players, Ollie and McGinn, at least when it comes to matches against us, struggled mightily
TRVL
The fanboys will claim any signing that is successful is all down to Arteta – any signing who doesn’t perform will be a Berta signing forced on Arteta against his will.
scratch and claw
I said previously that Arteta is a manager who copes better with offensive rather than defensive injuries.
His strength is setting up a team to be disciplined and defensively strong and history shows that a couple of injuries to his back 4 has a negative effect on results.
In fairness losing gabriel, saliba and mosquera when we were due to play away at the 2 in form clubs at the time, Chelsea and villa , was not an ideal situation as was conceding in the last minute yesterday , though we put in decent performances.
Fortunately we are at home to Wolves next week , city play palace and villa are at west ham , so there is a possibility of a swing back in our favour and today’s result will be a distant memory and that is how I expect the season to unfold with many twists and turns due to the strength and physicality of the league ..
Berta has been a positive for the club ,has strengthened in positions where we were short which has allowed us to top both the Premier league and champions league despite a crippling injury list .
The problem Berta had is that there is a lack of centre forward options and gyokeres appeared to be the best of an average bunch, personally I’ve never believed a striker was the missing piece of the puzzle and Merino has proven that point with some intelligent performances which included good movement and clinical finishing.
Gyokeres appears to have the support of Arteta but as some of said on here , Havertz will probably replace him unless he starts banging in the goals, Brugge and wolves may just be the ideal opportunity to convince some of his doubters like me that he can be a success at the club.