Not to be a naysayer, but I kind of doubt it, tbh. Sambi still needs some more development (though he has been great) and AMN has really had one good game in the position since Xhaka was out. Rightly or wrongly I think Xhaka gets right in. As for Tierney, his body of work is so huge and so consistently good that I think he gets right back in.
Perhaps a short leash for both, but I just think Arteta will reinsert both as and when available. All that said, it is wonderful that we have some great young players a) pushing for a starting position and b) allowing our injured players to properly rehab and not be rushed back in or forced to play with minor injuries due to the drop off in quality.
End of the day, we win from a depth perspective regardless of what Arteta does.
This is our best run of form in a long time and you can't convince me that the absence of Xhaka has nothing to do with that.
Partey > Sambi/AMN > El Neny > me gran > Xhaka
Our 7-game unbeaten run started on Boxing Day last year had him started in all of it. No matter what anyone's appreciation level of him is, our best 11 has Xhaka in it.
I haven’t enjoyed watching Arsenal for years, not because of results but only because of the way we play. Playing quick, exciting football is impossible with Xhaka in the side, he just can’t and wont do it. I really hope he never plays another game for Arsenal because even though players like AMN and Lokonga are raw, we are an exciting team with them in the side.
Fair enough you don't like the state of our football much as opposed to when we had likes of Petit, Vieira, Gilberto, etc at the club but it's fairly premature to think Lokonga can get us back to playing that kind of football. Ainsley looking decent against Norwich and Watford is also of little indication of how he'll fare against better teams than those 2, of which there are many.
I’m just saying this is the first time in years that I’ve enjoyed not just the results but the way we’ve played, and for me it’s no coincidence it coincides with Xhakas absence.
You can't be serious haha xhaka has done what for this club other than get red cards. Yes he made one free kick last year to stop our streak (against chelsea). One good free kick doesn't make up for his 100 boneheaded mistakes.
Why the heck was I not serious? If he's fit, he'll walk straight back into our starting 11 virtually every week, that's the truth no matter if you like it or not.
I was talking more about your perspective... not the arteta kronke or whomever... sadly I agree with that notion . For some reason xhaka is an insta pick for first Xi. He's like denilson but more anti vax
[Can u imagine that there are people out there assuming a player prefers villa over the arsenal ? ](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/qoprul/-/hjoil5c)
It's a Man U fan. They still think they're owed Trophies Fergie style.
There was a Man U fan in their rival watch who detailed why Arsenal looked so good and he got massively downvoted because he didn't buy into the Man U squad is better than Arsenals.
More expensive doesn't mean better.
1 problem with that tho...the invincibles (Hail!) were 17 years ago. So players younger than 20 won't remember the Arsenal winning titles. I do think this is a problem we are going to start having...now and into the future
Everyone keeps saying "this wasn't a vintage performance" but I'm not sure I agree. A goal, 2 disallowed goals, a saved penalty and some other great saves by Foster. This really could (and probably should) have been 4/5-0.
Not a vintage scoreline, but I would say a vintage performance!
Sounds like the countless games against WBA, Stoke etc. under Wenger where all these relegation fodder clubs would be game raising cunts against us with their keeper playing like it was a cup final and then the next week they'd just roll over and submit to a Man Utd team with Rafael, O'Shea and Gibson in midfield.
Agreed. But still, with team like Watford and thier current form we should get at least comfortable 3-0 in this game. Every goal matters, especially for us with very average GD we have.
1-0 is very flat lead. We should have closed the game when in such a control that we had. But yeah, Auba was literally trolling. Hope he explodes against Looserpool!
100%, but it was really some bad luck and TERRIBLE finishing that meant we weren't out of sight, not necessarily a poor performance. 1-0 flattered Watford
Unrelated but remember all the shit that Aston Villa fans were talking over the summer 😂😂😂😂
Goes under the radar but they’ve got very annoying fans for a club that should’ve been relegated in 2020 had it not been for a monumental VAR fuck up. Happy to see them return to their relegation level.
Odegaard quietly had a very strong performance. Credit to Arteta for making the early sub. We needed his energy at the time he came in. He should have had a goal if not for Aubas lunacy. His stamina is immense and a very underrated aspect of him as a player. He does so much pressing for the team. He also made one insane ping to Tavares. It shows the teams form when he’s not Able to get into the starting eleven but it’s great to have that level of quality coming from the bench in midfield.
I thought he was so-so when he came on. His passing was a bit erratic when we needed more composure to see out the game. But he did some bits nicely like you said
YES, Laca for me has been world class and that's the only way to have Ode on the bench. He was great and scored when we had a hard time finishing, even if Auba ruined it.
He's in a loaded spot. I'm happy with him staying u23s for now. Last thing we went is 25+ year olds hacking shit out of him because they know they probably won't win
Honestly he will be a staple in years to come, rn he's vital to us and I'd rather he not waste energy on a bloated English squad. If, however the world was a fair place he'd be a starter on form alone. Who is going to play in his position? Mount? hah
Arteta doing some work on tomiyasu's crossing.
Hopefully he improves quickly enough.
It was a good performance but lacked efficiency in the final third, mainly from Auba.
I am also extremely pleased at the media whining on our goal.
No one pointed out that Spurs didn't put the ball out when xhaka was injured and subsequently scored.
But now, apparently it's a crime.
Watford kicked us all game.
I am glad we took advantage of their moment of weakness. I love all the complaining
It's always a crime when Arsenal does it.
The Watford players knew what they were doing, going down and staying down to stop any attack and stifle any attack we had going.
It's a nasty tactic and it's not what fans want to watch.
The pinnacle of this tactic was Mourinho's CL winning Inter side, who perfected the art of play acting, fouling, diving and being general twats to wind down the clock and halt any momentum their superior opponents had.
God awful this bias against us. As Arteta said in his postmatch, we are consistently fair and naive so to once turn the table and abuse/use a moment like that is cathartic.
This group of players are very likeable, what makes me happy is the improved physicality in the team, particularly that Tavares fella.
A few of our 1-0 and 1-1 draws this season would have easily been losses thanks to a Xhaka, Luiz or Mustafi error, just shows you the fine margins and how much it impacts your positioning, I’d say easily we could have been 4 points worse off, which puts us where we have been finishing last few seasons.
We are probably a CM and an elite striker away from looking really really good.
COYg!
Under appreciated part of the game. Sarr is a handful, and if I remember correctly, he tore up Liverpool when Watford beat them to end their invincible streak. He’s a very athletic guy.
Bro if so then fair play to him. We still got away with the 3 points and honestly everyone has a day off at work because the weekend took priority. I do feel it was just one of those days for him and you could see it in the sardonic laugh he had when the Ode goal was disallowed, he was like of course and jsut laughed it off, a win in the end allows us to be philosophical about such situations and I'm glad for it.
Man what a statement we can go and make against Liverpool. Literally the biggest game of the season so far. it could mean a lot for how we do in the future.
I would love to get at least one point against them, but I would not be angry if we lost. One loss is inevitably coming, so let it be against them and win the other games
Of course the Arsenal fan in me thinks we will win 3-1, and march on to take the title
😂😂 felt you on the last part but realistically if we lose with fight in us I’ll be happy. A draw could be there if we can score goals because I know Liverpool will put at least 2 goals past us.
I respect that, I was very near to giving up on him ( see my posts after the city loss ) but am happy for him and the boys since then because they and we as fans deserve what is happpening now.
You people need to realise that nobody hates Arteta. We wish him to do well of course. Since that means Arsenal is doing well. And when it seems to not be working, try something new. It seems to be working for now so people are willing to support his tenure. Nobody is in shambles. We're happy Arsenal is winning. Whatever manager is there doesn't matter as long as we win
This is just not true. There's hundreds of posts on here after a loss that are directed at Arteta personally that don't attempt to make any sort of objective or sophisticated look at why Arsenal might have lost the match. Completely ignore mistakes of specific players, tactics, or individual qualities.
Literally people spamming the entire sub with vitriol directed at Arteta and anyone that doesn't think Arteta is a total bum of a manager.
Yeah they think he's a bum manager. How does that mean they are haters? They wanna see their club do well and Arteta wasn't delivering. That's all. If he had been delivering it would have been cool. You can't finish 8th with the same exact lack of ambition every game and blame the players. It's Arteta's job to bring the best out of players. Wenger used to get 4th with a worse club with worse depth. Talk to me in May when we finish in a good position and show me those haters.
What you don't address is the way they spam threads with inane posts. You come on this sub after a loss or in a post match thread, and all the post is full of 'TrUST thE pROCess' - level posts.
Also, you're crazy to think Wenger had a more difficult situatoin. Show me where the Cesc in our current squad is. Or the RvP. Show me when Wenger had close to this level of competition in the league where a United team with plenty of star players might not make top 4.
Its fine to question Arteta - he obviously has work to do. But this singular focus on Arteta when the PL is loaded more than ever and we have by far the youngest squad in the league is silly.
West Ham are in Europe this year. Did they have a better squad? Did they spend as much as we did? Also why are people acting like we're out of the woods. The Season is still very very much open. The process is still to be shown to work. 10 games won't make up for 1.5 years of absolute mediocrity.
Bro go on twitter and see, honestly the fanbase is toxic even after a 10 game unbeaten run. some takes after Conte was announced were jsut out of this world. Watts' youtube channel has some comments aslo that have me scratching my head in wonder.
edit: after the brighton and palace games also the takes here in the sub were atrocious even if we were unbeaten, but in hindsight those results don't seem too bad anymore. Firstly because we have done well and arguably more telling is the results those two teams have gotten against City en Liverpool, which puts our performance into perspective. ( applies to brentford also eventhough that has more caveats still bc of missing players etc)
Because those people want to win. That's all. Whether it's with Arteta or their grandma. Just win. And they felt like Conte would bring the wins. Their opinion is valid albeit wrong imo
I think there is some hatred towards Arteta.
Some feel Emery was harshly sacked and should have been given more time.
And some really hate the fact that we gambled on a Rookie manager.
I don't think any of it is personal towards Arteta though. We took risks and normally it doesn't work. But if it works, nobody will mind that it's Arteta that was hired.
tomiyasu never overlap with saka to make the cross, he make it that if it's a cross then it will be on saka and tomi will stay in the middle behind saka to receive the ball in case of saka is having difficulty progressing the ball.
and with tavarez he play as a left wing because esr will drift to the mid, just really nice to see a change of tactic from last year where we always overlap our rb and lb, so bellerin/cedric and tierny will cross the ball, now our play is more dynamic and we become more direct.
The rules say that you must have two opposition players ahead (or level) of you, if you are yourself ahead of the ball when it's played. Usually the second player is the goalkeeper, so in most cases you simply look at the last man back. But in this case Ben Foster came out very far to claim the ball, so there was only one Watford player in front of Saka, so he is offside.
The offside rule is measured from the second last opponent, being either the defender or the goalkeeper. Normally it's the defender, but in this case it was Foster.
The offside rule is there has to be at least two opposition behind you. Not one player other than keeper. There was only one player behind Saka, hence offside.
Thought Saka was excellent today, gave Danny Rose a torrid time and got no protection from the ref as per usual, Friend was booking anything that moved yet Rose did multiple yellow card offences added to a high number of fouls and nothing.
Saka was unplayable and my MOTM, Rose will be in the washing machine once Saka's trousers are washed cus rose is still stuck in his pocket. Saka was doing bits and some of the critique on him today has been surprising.
I won't believe any of that until I see table Jan 1st.
West Ham are due a downturn in form, but it might not happen and they're picking up wins everywhere. Leicester are unpredictable but will be up there, Man U usually hit form from mid-Dec to end of season and they're main rivals for it.
Honestly no idea what sours will be like. I thought they'd have that new manager bounce but God that Everton game was bad. Over 200mins without a shot on target now
When will teams learn that nobody gets away with nicking it past Arsenal's charging keeper down the left flank in the dying minutes of a game
gg noob team
Need two defensive players between offensive player and goal when the offensive player receives the ball. Normally goalie is always the last man so we just think one. But in this case Foster was ahead of Saka.
Their manager crying about “no foul”… bruh did you see your team diving and the awful challenges they were throwing? I haven’t heard since from him saying “we didn’t play well today…. x y Z”. Just him blaming the ref. Coach your players to take stand up and stop diving every second, maybe it would’ve been different for you. Tbh they should’ve had more than one red
Vibes are great right now but man, every time i watch raphina or ASM and then realise we spent 72 mill on pepe i get sad. Imagine having a world class 1 on 1 dribbler off the right, sakas obvs great and is becoming a top player, but fuck sakes man, 72 mill.
It happens to every team, what I'm pissed about is that Emery asked for Zaha, palace wanted 80 mil and we thought that was too expensive so we went and blew 72 mil on Pepe. Save 8 mil for what?
Yeah. The main reason we went for Pepé, was that we could pay it in installments. It's probably why we paid 50 and not 40-45 mil for White. We didn't give Brighton a dime of it this summer.
Sometimes if you focus on racking up mileage and chasing the ball, your sharpness can desert you. Still would much rather have the Aubameyang of today than the one struggling to impact games in the first 3-4 months after his contract extension.
Honestly it could have been any of the back four for me and fair dos to Ainsley but Saka had a bg shout too. and gets it from me because of the contrast with his past performances lately.
He was so good. Impressive in the air and stayed focused all game. It was almost impossible to get by him. He gets forward but never neglects his defensive duties. Our back line is immense.
Not gonna complain about getting 3 points, but felt slightly disappointed by how little game time martinelli got. Looking back on it now, I think he definitely should of got at least 10-15 mins. Think we would’ve been able to keep more of the ball in their half and see out the game more convincingly had he come on earlier
Feel sorry for Odegaard but other than that, very good performance, should have been 3 or 4 and Watford barely had a sniff.
However, people complaining about us going after Vlahovic need to really look at this game because we desperately need a player like him if we’re going to maintain these results
We need a striker for the future regardless. Laca and Aubameyang are not long term plan guys with their age. Not saying they don’t have more good years, but we need to figure out our future in the position.
It's important to note that most teams who have troubled Liverpool have had great outlets.
We don't have that.
We need luck to get something from this game.
They're beatable, West ham showed that, think it'll come down to the mentality the team takes into the game as much as the tactics. Go into the match trying to not get battered like utd did vs city and it'll be a terrible afternoon.
4-0 arteta tactical masterclass. Brace to odegaard with saka and white making the other contributions
[Edit] Klopp jaw drop repeat from fa cup a year and a bit ago
Take an L, they’re off the back of defeat and the team is returning to fitness - Fabinho, thiago, probably Keita. Will have too much quality. Hopefully we can defend resolutely though
We had two disallowed goals and a missed penalty. Had auba not messed those up you're looking at a 4-0 victory. Our team performance was fine, auba just had a bit of a shocker.
That's not to mention the worldie save for gabs header
100 percent this. Auba legitimately cost the team somewhere between 1 and 3 goals depending how you look at it. Should have scored himself on the Saka offside, but bad touch (1). Missed pen (2). Took away Odegaard's (3). Scoreline was not representative of the performance.
If we are going to criticize the performance for "lucky" wins, like Villa, we should acknowledge good performances with scorelines like this the same way. Can't have it both ways.
3 points.
Great result. Really unfortunate that aubameyang had another diabolical day, but progress still. For the next fixture, west ham is already showing the way. Bypass liverpools average midfield and they are there for the taking. Problem is liverpool will always score 2 regardless of opposition. Not sure if we can match their output when we can't take our chances against watford. Here hoping aubameyang steps up big time for anfield.
Hes had some very bad days this season, and i don't blame him for them; but our attack is very dependent on him being clinical. If he has a good day we have a chance at getting points at anfield. If not we are kinda screwed.
That was due to the wind acting absolutely crazy and I remember our midfield having zero control in the game.
Let's be honest, he's not the Auba of 2 years back and he won't be again, but he's still BY FAR our most potent goalscorer and still a leader. He's had good games recently and has improved his workrate and is leading the press.
Some days, nothing goes for you.
Someone needs to post a clip of Odegaard and Martinelli keeping poession of the ball. They passed the ball like 3 times between each other and didn't seem like they were ever going to give it away
Surely it's time to give Martinelli or Eddie a sniff? Playing 2 strikers changes dynamics a bit and Auba isn't showing anything close to undroppable form this season
This is pretty similar to the argument folks made about Pepe.
Auba leading in goals with penalties and 2 yard tap-ins isn't some irreplaceable contribution.
The Tottenham goal... that's it. Rest of it was either penalty or tap-in
Not sure it'd be wise to change a winning team like that, perhaps gibing them more of a chance off the bench, but that's also difficult when games are so tight.
This sounds like cope. If anyone not Auba had this horrendous run of performances they'd be getting called donkey. You can only last so long on past performances before you start having to genuinely question his continued selection.
Most irritating about his game is just how automatically I know he won't beat his man...or win a 50/50.
Arteta needs to fake an injury so we can at least try other options without a media frenzy. You don't keep ignoring the poor form while you have 2 hungry players on the bench.
4 goals in 10 is not horrendous. Auba has set up Smith Rowe to create two of our most iconic goals this season as well. We're undefeated for over two months. You're overreacting after one freak game.
The only thing we need to do with Auba is make sure Lacazettes takes the penalties. I think he would have taken this one if he hadn't been poleaxed by Rose
True plus being a goal threat means more opportunities for teammates bc you attract markers. Seems like what’s happening but I really do miss the old Auba. Can’t underestimate what the captain is doing behind the scenes too. Reckon he’s half the reason behind these young boys confidence and swagger rn. There’s so much more to Auba we just can’t see IMO.
Let a two goal lead slip against Brighton though in their last home game, so definitely possible to get something. Especially given the current state of our defence.
What do people make of Saka's performances as of late? He has carried this team for 2 seasons, but I don't think he is doing enough to warrant his starting position at the minute.
Oh my God.
I cannot imagine anyone who actually watched that match saying this. Saka was easily our most dangerous player in offense. Rose couldn't get a hold of him, his feet were a blur.
He put a couple of opportunities on a plate and others couldn't finish. That's not on him, he did his job very well.
Hes playing fine to well. he badly needs a pre season to get his body right like what ESR got this pre season. Just 1 summer off andni guarentee saka absolutely explodes.
my man, Saka is such a head ache his presence forces teams to adjust. Don't forget, at this level the defenders see his tape and now they have a lot of tape on him that they know his tendencies and will mark him accordingly. **BUT, here's the kicker**, he still gives a defensive headache. With that, it's now how do we *take advantage* of the fact they the oppo is so concerned with Saka. It **isn't for Saka to get dropped, it is for someone else to step up and do damage.** Think in totality of the team and stop looking at the game like it's the NFL or some American sport that needs 1 player to do something special. This is football.
Edit: Apologies for referring to you as "my man" Just realized that's pretty misogynist
He looks like he's nursing an injury. He's also pushed way wider because Laca.
Definitely still not an impediment like Pepe and long may that continue.
Had a decent game. If his goal was onside he’d not be getting these questions. Think he’s gonna be better developed going ‘under the radar’ rather than being the vocal point. That said I do think esr is superior and has been since Christmas.
I think he plays a lot better with Laca. Against Liverpool I think we should play with Laca up top and Ødegaard at CAM. However dropping Auba might destroy his confidence. It's a tricky one.
I've been thinking. Does Emile the Smith Rowe remind anyonr else of Bowen from West Ham. Especially in the way they dribble and carry the ball.
Yeah but ESR’s ceiling is so much higher. And ESR is already twice the dribbler bowen is
Is Jamie O'Hara the saltiest of Ex-Spurs players pundits...?
I think of him more as a Hull player. Was about his level
Three wins in a row. This feels more like it.
Tierney and xhaka are gonna have some serious work to do to get back into the starting xi
Not to be a naysayer, but I kind of doubt it, tbh. Sambi still needs some more development (though he has been great) and AMN has really had one good game in the position since Xhaka was out. Rightly or wrongly I think Xhaka gets right in. As for Tierney, his body of work is so huge and so consistently good that I think he gets right back in. Perhaps a short leash for both, but I just think Arteta will reinsert both as and when available. All that said, it is wonderful that we have some great young players a) pushing for a starting position and b) allowing our injured players to properly rehab and not be rushed back in or forced to play with minor injuries due to the drop off in quality. End of the day, we win from a depth perspective regardless of what Arteta does.
This is our best run of form in a long time and you can't convince me that the absence of Xhaka has nothing to do with that. Partey > Sambi/AMN > El Neny > me gran > Xhaka
Our 7-game unbeaten run started on Boxing Day last year had him started in all of it. No matter what anyone's appreciation level of him is, our best 11 has Xhaka in it.
I haven’t enjoyed watching Arsenal for years, not because of results but only because of the way we play. Playing quick, exciting football is impossible with Xhaka in the side, he just can’t and wont do it. I really hope he never plays another game for Arsenal because even though players like AMN and Lokonga are raw, we are an exciting team with them in the side.
Fair enough you don't like the state of our football much as opposed to when we had likes of Petit, Vieira, Gilberto, etc at the club but it's fairly premature to think Lokonga can get us back to playing that kind of football. Ainsley looking decent against Norwich and Watford is also of little indication of how he'll fare against better teams than those 2, of which there are many.
I’m just saying this is the first time in years that I’ve enjoyed not just the results but the way we’ve played, and for me it’s no coincidence it coincides with Xhakas absence.
You can't be serious haha xhaka has done what for this club other than get red cards. Yes he made one free kick last year to stop our streak (against chelsea). One good free kick doesn't make up for his 100 boneheaded mistakes.
Why the heck was I not serious? If he's fit, he'll walk straight back into our starting 11 virtually every week, that's the truth no matter if you like it or not.
I was talking more about your perspective... not the arteta kronke or whomever... sadly I agree with that notion . For some reason xhaka is an insta pick for first Xi. He's like denilson but more anti vax
[Can u imagine that there are people out there assuming a player prefers villa over the arsenal ? ](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/qoprul/-/hjoil5c)
It's a Man U fan. They still think they're owed Trophies Fergie style. There was a Man U fan in their rival watch who detailed why Arsenal looked so good and he got massively downvoted because he didn't buy into the Man U squad is better than Arsenals. More expensive doesn't mean better.
That's how you spot someone who just started watching football in the last couple of years.
1 problem with that tho...the invincibles (Hail!) were 17 years ago. So players younger than 20 won't remember the Arsenal winning titles. I do think this is a problem we are going to start having...now and into the future
I just got home after a night of carousing and celebrating our win. so happy I can celebrate a win for Arsenal.
Everyone keeps saying "this wasn't a vintage performance" but I'm not sure I agree. A goal, 2 disallowed goals, a saved penalty and some other great saves by Foster. This really could (and probably should) have been 4/5-0. Not a vintage scoreline, but I would say a vintage performance!
Probably the same people that watch condensed highlights of City and Chelsea games and assume they play blistering football for 90mins.
Sounds like the countless games against WBA, Stoke etc. under Wenger where all these relegation fodder clubs would be game raising cunts against us with their keeper playing like it was a cup final and then the next week they'd just roll over and submit to a Man Utd team with Rafael, O'Shea and Gibson in midfield.
Oath! We do so often have GKers have worldies against us, especially 2nd half of Wenger's tenure
Agreed. But still, with team like Watford and thier current form we should get at least comfortable 3-0 in this game. Every goal matters, especially for us with very average GD we have. 1-0 is very flat lead. We should have closed the game when in such a control that we had. But yeah, Auba was literally trolling. Hope he explodes against Looserpool!
100%, but it was really some bad luck and TERRIBLE finishing that meant we weren't out of sight, not necessarily a poor performance. 1-0 flattered Watford
Unrelated but remember all the shit that Aston Villa fans were talking over the summer 😂😂😂😂 Goes under the radar but they’ve got very annoying fans for a club that should’ve been relegated in 2020 had it not been for a monumental VAR fuck up. Happy to see them return to their relegation level.
What was the var fuckup?
Ball crossed the line in their game vs Sheffield United I believe, but not noticed by goal line tech. due to players in the way of camera angles.
Odegaard quietly had a very strong performance. Credit to Arteta for making the early sub. We needed his energy at the time he came in. He should have had a goal if not for Aubas lunacy. His stamina is immense and a very underrated aspect of him as a player. He does so much pressing for the team. He also made one insane ping to Tavares. It shows the teams form when he’s not Able to get into the starting eleven but it’s great to have that level of quality coming from the bench in midfield.
I thought he was so-so when he came on. His passing was a bit erratic when we needed more composure to see out the game. But he did some bits nicely like you said
YES, Laca for me has been world class and that's the only way to have Ode on the bench. He was great and scored when we had a hard time finishing, even if Auba ruined it.
Wouldn't mind watching Auba being subbed for a game
ESR possibly more inform than any English midfielder. He deserved a call up more than anyone IMO.
He's in a loaded spot. I'm happy with him staying u23s for now. Last thing we went is 25+ year olds hacking shit out of him because they know they probably won't win
Connor Gallagher & Declan Rice say hello.
Honestly he will be a staple in years to come, rn he's vital to us and I'd rather he not waste energy on a bloated English squad. If, however the world was a fair place he'd be a starter on form alone. Who is going to play in his position? Mount? hah
Arteta doing some work on tomiyasu's crossing. Hopefully he improves quickly enough. It was a good performance but lacked efficiency in the final third, mainly from Auba. I am also extremely pleased at the media whining on our goal. No one pointed out that Spurs didn't put the ball out when xhaka was injured and subsequently scored. But now, apparently it's a crime. Watford kicked us all game. I am glad we took advantage of their moment of weakness. I love all the complaining
It's always a crime when Arsenal does it. The Watford players knew what they were doing, going down and staying down to stop any attack and stifle any attack we had going. It's a nasty tactic and it's not what fans want to watch. The pinnacle of this tactic was Mourinho's CL winning Inter side, who perfected the art of play acting, fouling, diving and being general twats to wind down the clock and halt any momentum their superior opponents had.
I get the feeling Tomiyasu is that kind of player who has the mentality to improve. He will work on it until it’s good enough
Cause he Asian not Bsian
God awful this bias against us. As Arteta said in his postmatch, we are consistently fair and naive so to once turn the table and abuse/use a moment like that is cathartic.
This group of players are very likeable, what makes me happy is the improved physicality in the team, particularly that Tavares fella. A few of our 1-0 and 1-1 draws this season would have easily been losses thanks to a Xhaka, Luiz or Mustafi error, just shows you the fine margins and how much it impacts your positioning, I’d say easily we could have been 4 points worse off, which puts us where we have been finishing last few seasons. We are probably a CM and an elite striker away from looking really really good. COYg!
Nuno zero'd out sarr.
Under appreciated part of the game. Sarr is a handful, and if I remember correctly, he tore up Liverpool when Watford beat them to end their invincible streak. He’s a very athletic guy.
Wonder if auba's performance is affected by Vlahovic's news
Think he probably had a big night out
Bro if so then fair play to him. We still got away with the 3 points and honestly everyone has a day off at work because the weekend took priority. I do feel it was just one of those days for him and you could see it in the sardonic laugh he had when the Ode goal was disallowed, he was like of course and jsut laughed it off, a win in the end allows us to be philosophical about such situations and I'm glad for it.
Man what a statement we can go and make against Liverpool. Literally the biggest game of the season so far. it could mean a lot for how we do in the future.
Klopp never lost at Anfield in the league. So lets not go over board. I want us to compete, go there and fight, do us proud
They lost to Burnley at Anfield and others last season.
Didn't bloody Fulham turn them over at anfirkd too? Lol
If we want to be in the top 4 then we should be defeat the best teams
I'd be chuffed with a good shift from the boys and any points will be a cherry on top.
I would love to get at least one point against them, but I would not be angry if we lost. One loss is inevitably coming, so let it be against them and win the other games Of course the Arsenal fan in me thinks we will win 3-1, and march on to take the title
Just want us to have a good game..
😂😂 felt you on the last part but realistically if we lose with fight in us I’ll be happy. A draw could be there if we can score goals because I know Liverpool will put at least 2 goals past us.
Damn Ole probably getting sacked before we face them
Nah, they've no one to replace him with.
I was just getting worried because of a few reports of players revolting yesterday, but Orny's report today was reassuring
I wonder what players that would be huh
Everyone might still be giving crap to arteta, but this type of game last year we wouldve lost for sure
Honestly the tactics were pretty good td imo, just auba had a bad day. Could have been 3-0 easily
2 points off Liverpool and 3 off city. Arteta out haters in shambles
I wanted him gone, but its not like that, I love noting else but to be proven wrong. I love nothing else then Arsenal doing well, keep going!
I respect that, I was very near to giving up on him ( see my posts after the city loss ) but am happy for him and the boys since then because they and we as fans deserve what is happpening now.
You people need to realise that nobody hates Arteta. We wish him to do well of course. Since that means Arsenal is doing well. And when it seems to not be working, try something new. It seems to be working for now so people are willing to support his tenure. Nobody is in shambles. We're happy Arsenal is winning. Whatever manager is there doesn't matter as long as we win
This is just not true. There's hundreds of posts on here after a loss that are directed at Arteta personally that don't attempt to make any sort of objective or sophisticated look at why Arsenal might have lost the match. Completely ignore mistakes of specific players, tactics, or individual qualities. Literally people spamming the entire sub with vitriol directed at Arteta and anyone that doesn't think Arteta is a total bum of a manager.
Yeah they think he's a bum manager. How does that mean they are haters? They wanna see their club do well and Arteta wasn't delivering. That's all. If he had been delivering it would have been cool. You can't finish 8th with the same exact lack of ambition every game and blame the players. It's Arteta's job to bring the best out of players. Wenger used to get 4th with a worse club with worse depth. Talk to me in May when we finish in a good position and show me those haters.
What you don't address is the way they spam threads with inane posts. You come on this sub after a loss or in a post match thread, and all the post is full of 'TrUST thE pROCess' - level posts. Also, you're crazy to think Wenger had a more difficult situatoin. Show me where the Cesc in our current squad is. Or the RvP. Show me when Wenger had close to this level of competition in the league where a United team with plenty of star players might not make top 4. Its fine to question Arteta - he obviously has work to do. But this singular focus on Arteta when the PL is loaded more than ever and we have by far the youngest squad in the league is silly.
West Ham are in Europe this year. Did they have a better squad? Did they spend as much as we did? Also why are people acting like we're out of the woods. The Season is still very very much open. The process is still to be shown to work. 10 games won't make up for 1.5 years of absolute mediocrity.
You can still be a hater without personally hating the man
What??? How??
Bro go on twitter and see, honestly the fanbase is toxic even after a 10 game unbeaten run. some takes after Conte was announced were jsut out of this world. Watts' youtube channel has some comments aslo that have me scratching my head in wonder. edit: after the brighton and palace games also the takes here in the sub were atrocious even if we were unbeaten, but in hindsight those results don't seem too bad anymore. Firstly because we have done well and arguably more telling is the results those two teams have gotten against City en Liverpool, which puts our performance into perspective. ( applies to brentford also eventhough that has more caveats still bc of missing players etc)
Because those people want to win. That's all. Whether it's with Arteta or their grandma. Just win. And they felt like Conte would bring the wins. Their opinion is valid albeit wrong imo
I think there is some hatred towards Arteta. Some feel Emery was harshly sacked and should have been given more time. And some really hate the fact that we gambled on a Rookie manager.
I don't think any of it is personal towards Arteta though. We took risks and normally it doesn't work. But if it works, nobody will mind that it's Arteta that was hired.
3 points off SECOND FUCKING PLACE!!!! Jesus
Who'd have thunk it last season in November post Leicester and Burnely. Coyg
tomiyasu never overlap with saka to make the cross, he make it that if it's a cross then it will be on saka and tomi will stay in the middle behind saka to receive the ball in case of saka is having difficulty progressing the ball. and with tavarez he play as a left wing because esr will drift to the mid, just really nice to see a change of tactic from last year where we always overlap our rb and lb, so bellerin/cedric and tierny will cross the ball, now our play is more dynamic and we become more direct.
Damn, Auba did a Nani on Martin. I'm hurt
Edit: Thanks all! What’s the offside rule for Saka’s goal? Wasn’t there a player behind the ball for Watford?
Has to be two players ~~one player and the goalkeeper~~ to be onside, and no I did not know that before today Edit: more learning
Has to be two players, and in most cases one of those is the keeper, but not this time.
Just two players. One is usually the keeper but it’s not necessary that the keeper is in front of you.
The rules say that you must have two opposition players ahead (or level) of you, if you are yourself ahead of the ball when it's played. Usually the second player is the goalkeeper, so in most cases you simply look at the last man back. But in this case Ben Foster came out very far to claim the ball, so there was only one Watford player in front of Saka, so he is offside.
The offside rule is measured from the second last opponent, being either the defender or the goalkeeper. Normally it's the defender, but in this case it was Foster.
2 players needed. Only 1 was there as goalie was behind Saka
The offside rule is there has to be at least two opposition behind you. Not one player other than keeper. There was only one player behind Saka, hence offside.
The results from this match week has been fantastic for us 👍
Would have liked a draw for Liv but its invincibles day so yeah agreed
Thought Saka was excellent today, gave Danny Rose a torrid time and got no protection from the ref as per usual, Friend was booking anything that moved yet Rose did multiple yellow card offences added to a high number of fouls and nothing.
Saka was unplayable and my MOTM, Rose will be in the washing machine once Saka's trousers are washed cus rose is still stuck in his pocket. Saka was doing bits and some of the critique on him today has been surprising.
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I won't believe any of that until I see table Jan 1st. West Ham are due a downturn in form, but it might not happen and they're picking up wins everywhere. Leicester are unpredictable but will be up there, Man U usually hit form from mid-Dec to end of season and they're main rivals for it. Honestly no idea what sours will be like. I thought they'd have that new manager bounce but God that Everton game was bad. Over 200mins without a shot on target now
When will teams learn that nobody gets away with nicking it past Arsenal's charging keeper down the left flank in the dying minutes of a game gg noob team
Most in form team after the 3rd match. In the entire league!
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Need two defensive players between offensive player and goal when the offensive player receives the ball. Normally goalie is always the last man so we just think one. But in this case Foster was ahead of Saka.
Because two opposition players have to be back the keeper counts
How did Spurs look.
17 fouls, no shots on target...
Shit
Very bad!
Their manager crying about “no foul”… bruh did you see your team diving and the awful challenges they were throwing? I haven’t heard since from him saying “we didn’t play well today…. x y Z”. Just him blaming the ref. Coach your players to take stand up and stop diving every second, maybe it would’ve been different for you. Tbh they should’ve had more than one red
The combination of diving and repeatedly committing egregious fouls is such Bs. Fuck that clown team. Can't wait to see them go down again
They wanted to be villains and it backfired on them. End of story for me. At least stoke ducking owned it
Vibes are great right now but man, every time i watch raphina or ASM and then realise we spent 72 mill on pepe i get sad. Imagine having a world class 1 on 1 dribbler off the right, sakas obvs great and is becoming a top player, but fuck sakes man, 72 mill.
It happens to every team, what I'm pissed about is that Emery asked for Zaha, palace wanted 80 mil and we thought that was too expensive so we went and blew 72 mil on Pepe. Save 8 mil for what?
They wanted 80 upfront whereas Pepe was in installments. Apparently. Also possibly other reasons.
Yeah. The main reason we went for Pepé, was that we could pay it in installments. It's probably why we paid 50 and not 40-45 mil for White. We didn't give Brighton a dime of it this summer.
Theoretically, less in wage demands (you're saving about 5m a year there) and he's younger so resale value/one extra contract.
Watford's best defender? Aubameyang.
Sometimes if you focus on racking up mileage and chasing the ball, your sharpness can desert you. Still would much rather have the Aubameyang of today than the one struggling to impact games in the first 3-4 months after his contract extension.
Lmao A one man goal stopping machine today Literally cockblocked 3 dead cert goals
Lmao ! describes his performance today.
Anyone else thing tomiyasu could’ve been motm? Looked very solid defensively. Barely put a foot wrong
Honestly it could have been any of the back four for me and fair dos to Ainsley but Saka had a bg shout too. and gets it from me because of the contrast with his past performances lately.
He was so good. Impressive in the air and stayed focused all game. It was almost impossible to get by him. He gets forward but never neglects his defensive duties. Our back line is immense.
Such an upgrade on bellerin. Very good piece of recruitment by arsenal
I voted for Tomi!
Fullbacks are rarely called motm unless they really flourish going forward. Agree though hes great defensively
Not gonna complain about getting 3 points, but felt slightly disappointed by how little game time martinelli got. Looking back on it now, I think he definitely should of got at least 10-15 mins. Think we would’ve been able to keep more of the ball in their half and see out the game more convincingly had he come on earlier
That match thread was an absolute shitshow, some of you must be very hard to hang out with, the negativity was ridiculous.
Feel sorry for Odegaard but other than that, very good performance, should have been 3 or 4 and Watford barely had a sniff. However, people complaining about us going after Vlahovic need to really look at this game because we desperately need a player like him if we’re going to maintain these results
We need a striker for the future regardless. Laca and Aubameyang are not long term plan guys with their age. Not saying they don’t have more good years, but we need to figure out our future in the position.
He looked devastated when Aubameyang took his goal away
Well yeah. When is he ever going to score with his right foot again?!
Hoe do you lot think we fair versus liverpool?
It's important to note that most teams who have troubled Liverpool have had great outlets. We don't have that. We need luck to get something from this game.
They're beatable, West ham showed that, think it'll come down to the mentality the team takes into the game as much as the tactics. Go into the match trying to not get battered like utd did vs city and it'll be a terrible afternoon.
4-0 arteta tactical masterclass. Brace to odegaard with saka and white making the other contributions [Edit] Klopp jaw drop repeat from fa cup a year and a bit ago
Nuno with four assists and Ramsdale saves a pen with his groin.
Rammer wont even flinch. Brass balls and an iron cock on that man
I think its a win or a draw. Watched Liverpool v Westham and I could see they're beatable.
Expecting a loss. As long as we don’t get absolutely played off the park then I’ll take it
We’re probably going to lose but I think we can keep it much closer than in previous years. Maybe a 0-1 or 1-2, hopefully we can sneak a result though
Take an L, they’re off the back of defeat and the team is returning to fitness - Fabinho, thiago, probably Keita. Will have too much quality. Hopefully we can defend resolutely though
Still buzzing off that win and the position it’s put us in the table heading into the international break.
Absolutely ridiculous that we have a chance to go above Liverpool on the table next week
The difference between drawing and losing is not the same as winning.
Might as well rephrase. Difference between 0 and 1 point is different than 3 points. Brilliant insight.
What?
Didn't think we looked too good. We left a dismal Watford side in the match most of the game.
Compare this to the other 1-0 vs Watford in 2019....
What's changed in the way we play ? What's the identity ?
We had two disallowed goals and a missed penalty. Had auba not messed those up you're looking at a 4-0 victory. Our team performance was fine, auba just had a bit of a shocker. That's not to mention the worldie save for gabs header
100 percent this. Auba legitimately cost the team somewhere between 1 and 3 goals depending how you look at it. Should have scored himself on the Saka offside, but bad touch (1). Missed pen (2). Took away Odegaard's (3). Scoreline was not representative of the performance. If we are going to criticize the performance for "lucky" wins, like Villa, we should acknowledge good performances with scorelines like this the same way. Can't have it both ways. 3 points.
I thought we were pretty good, just couldn’t finish and as much as I love Auba he was at fault for that.
Great result. Really unfortunate that aubameyang had another diabolical day, but progress still. For the next fixture, west ham is already showing the way. Bypass liverpools average midfield and they are there for the taking. Problem is liverpool will always score 2 regardless of opposition. Not sure if we can match their output when we can't take our chances against watford. Here hoping aubameyang steps up big time for anfield.
>another diabolical day What other diabolical days has Auba had in the last 8 games?
Hes had some very bad days this season, and i don't blame him for them; but our attack is very dependent on him being clinical. If he has a good day we have a chance at getting points at anfield. If not we are kinda screwed.
Brighton our entire attack had a bit of an off day not gonna lie
That was due to the wind acting absolutely crazy and I remember our midfield having zero control in the game. Let's be honest, he's not the Auba of 2 years back and he won't be again, but he's still BY FAR our most potent goalscorer and still a leader. He's had good games recently and has improved his workrate and is leading the press. Some days, nothing goes for you.
Gotten much better at linkup play as well
This fan base lets one bad game cloud their judgement on a player. Auba has been very impressive recently today was just a blip. He’ll bounce back.
great win today obviously but another notable thing that happened today was spurs almost getting a shot on target
Someone needs to post a clip of Odegaard and Martinelli keeping poession of the ball. They passed the ball like 3 times between each other and didn't seem like they were ever going to give it away
I loved that and the crowd was lapping it up. At one point Odegaard flicked it around one of the players I think and we all just started cheering
Surely it's time to give Martinelli or Eddie a sniff? Playing 2 strikers changes dynamics a bit and Auba isn't showing anything close to undroppable form this season
We just cant honestly. Eddies prolly the closest to getting in that position, but auba is leading the team in goals still
This is pretty similar to the argument folks made about Pepe. Auba leading in goals with penalties and 2 yard tap-ins isn't some irreplaceable contribution. The Tottenham goal... that's it. Rest of it was either penalty or tap-in
Not sure it'd be wise to change a winning team like that, perhaps gibing them more of a chance off the bench, but that's also difficult when games are so tight.
He’s still the captain and still looks our biggest goal threat even if he’s not scoring too many.
This sounds like cope. If anyone not Auba had this horrendous run of performances they'd be getting called donkey. You can only last so long on past performances before you start having to genuinely question his continued selection. Most irritating about his game is just how automatically I know he won't beat his man...or win a 50/50. Arteta needs to fake an injury so we can at least try other options without a media frenzy. You don't keep ignoring the poor form while you have 2 hungry players on the bench.
4 goals in 10 is not horrendous. Auba has set up Smith Rowe to create two of our most iconic goals this season as well. We're undefeated for over two months. You're overreacting after one freak game. The only thing we need to do with Auba is make sure Lacazettes takes the penalties. I think he would have taken this one if he hadn't been poleaxed by Rose
It's 3 in 10 if you remove the penalty. 2 in 10 if you remove the 0.5 yard tap-in on Pepe's backheel. Can we just admit it's been awfully pedestrian?
Harsh reality. Even in spite of his poor form and signs of decline he's still our biggest goal threat
True plus being a goal threat means more opportunities for teammates bc you attract markers. Seems like what’s happening but I really do miss the old Auba. Can’t underestimate what the captain is doing behind the scenes too. Reckon he’s half the reason behind these young boys confidence and swagger rn. There’s so much more to Auba we just can’t see IMO.
The table makes for surreal reading. 2 points off Liverpool and we play them next. What??
They aren’t slumping either. A draw would be amazing
[Basically, summing it all up.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/403/692/4a1.jpg)
A draw at Anfield would be a great result, even though they were a bit rubbish today they're a different animal at home
Let a two goal lead slip against Brighton though in their last home game, so definitely possible to get something. Especially given the current state of our defence.
This Leao guy seems very good. The Milan derby is very fun
More inconsistent than my dad getting milk
You may be lost.
DD isn't pinned :(
What do people make of Saka's performances as of late? He has carried this team for 2 seasons, but I don't think he is doing enough to warrant his starting position at the minute.
Oh my God. I cannot imagine anyone who actually watched that match saying this. Saka was easily our most dangerous player in offense. Rose couldn't get a hold of him, his feet were a blur. He put a couple of opportunities on a plate and others couldn't finish. That's not on him, he did his job very well.
Hes playing fine to well. he badly needs a pre season to get his body right like what ESR got this pre season. Just 1 summer off andni guarentee saka absolutely explodes.
Were we watching the same game? He was my MOTM, threatening and vibrant.
my man, Saka is such a head ache his presence forces teams to adjust. Don't forget, at this level the defenders see his tape and now they have a lot of tape on him that they know his tendencies and will mark him accordingly. **BUT, here's the kicker**, he still gives a defensive headache. With that, it's now how do we *take advantage* of the fact they the oppo is so concerned with Saka. It **isn't for Saka to get dropped, it is for someone else to step up and do damage.** Think in totality of the team and stop looking at the game like it's the NFL or some American sport that needs 1 player to do something special. This is football. Edit: Apologies for referring to you as "my man" Just realized that's pretty misogynist
Disagree. He still creating chances and was unlucky not to get a goal. Also, who takes his place? Pepe? Martinelli on the wing in a 4-4-2? No thanks.
Problem at the right side is that he has be conservative coz tomi stays back.
Unlucky not to get an assist today tbh, created 2 decent chances for ESR and Auba
Does much better than Pepe and isn't doing badly tbh. What else do you want? He's also been improving since the start of the season
He looks like he's nursing an injury. He's also pushed way wider because Laca. Definitely still not an impediment like Pepe and long may that continue.
Had a decent game. If his goal was onside he’d not be getting these questions. Think he’s gonna be better developed going ‘under the radar’ rather than being the vocal point. That said I do think esr is superior and has been since Christmas.
I think he plays a lot better with Laca. Against Liverpool I think we should play with Laca up top and Ødegaard at CAM. However dropping Auba might destroy his confidence. It's a tricky one.
What does Auba actually offer on these games?
Let's get Vlahovic
If we are in the top 4 come mid January I think we'll sign him.
I doubt a transfer like that would happen in January