(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 3)

That’s too conservative - for me you start the guy who is banging them in and when starts from the left uses his great pace to come back and cover. 

pretty average first half. we have looked very flat

Which game are we talking about? ;)

11 in a row. Damn. I'll take that. Welbeck deserved that goal after his header was (incorrectly IMO) ruled out.

Quite lucky to get something from that. Sure we had our chances, but we did our best to fluff them. They had theirs but fluffed them as well. I thought Xhaka, Gendo, Elney were poor in general.

But we still got the win and kept this streaky streak alive :)  

That's a good win and a good clean sheet. 

Barcelona are the only other team to win at their ground in the last 2 years! Our first ever win in Portugal as well apparently. 

Wasn't the prettiest but we had a bit of a makeshift midfield and still managed to control the game pretty well. 

It was odd, looked to me like Ramsey was playing deeper than Elneny? Very weird. 

I think this might be the end of Elneny at Arsenal unfortunately. Just doesn't look on the same level as our the midfielders in Emery's systems. 

Welbeck is quietly having a very good season, despite limited minutes. 

Emery deserves credit for the brave decisions at fullback right now, and Xhaka actually went pretty well at LB this morn. Most of their threat came down Lichtsteiner's side.

Oh yea and Torreira showed just how good he is yet again. A different team when he got on. 

I read an interesting stat about him this morning.

Arsenal have now played 497 minutes without him this season, scoring nine goals and conceding ten. In 673 minutes with him on the pitch, they have scored 24 goals and conceded four. If any player is undroppable under Emery, it is the boy from Uruguay.

OK, mathematically they could still make it but this made me laugh

Only managed to watch the first half this morning, was pretty average viewing. Got the W though and kept this run going.

Palace away Monday morning could be tricky. I don't think they've scored at home this season, but with Zaha they are always a threat. Never had it easy there either. Ground out wins last season and 15/16, got battered the season in between.

Thought we dominated tbh and were deserved winners, even if we didn't play amazingly.

Classic Mustafi f*ck up. He had a penalty shout that could have gone against him about 5 minutes earlier. The daft thing is his lunge was on a player who had possession but was facing away from goal. Too many brain explosions from that guy. 

Definitely agree with the chatter about another CB. Would enjoy a statement signing at that end like we have with Auba and Laca, maybe a Manolas. Heck even Harry Maguire could be a good buy instead of Mustafi.

Frustrating as fudge.

Any ref is giving that second penalty in the moment, but on replay you can see how Xhaka is moving his leg away and Zaha is already diving pre contact. 

Very disappointing game. Iwobi should never play on the right - and I still don't think Auba/Laca should be starting together. The balance was all off; made worse by Xhaka being our left back.

Disappointing but it had been coming, this time we did look like a team who had played europa league a few days prior.

The fullback situation is worrying, especially with Bellerin going off today. That is going to seriously affect how we play. Xhaka has done an admirable job on the left but will never give us the pace and running that Monreal or Kolasinac would. 

I agree Valeo, Iwobi looks better on the left, and we can't shoe-horn the strikers together any longer if it isn't working that well. 

Ozil was a bit of a disappointment this morning, and I don't know who he's kidding having a tantrum for getting subbed. We have 4 attackers on the pitch, and he was the least effective at the time, along with Auba, who was also subbed shortly after. 

Silver linings though. Came from behind, and I know it's cliched but you could definitely file that one in the "games we would've lost last season" category. The team has some real grit about them now. Lichtsteiner is a straight-up mongrel. He's often playing catch-up in the challenges but his c*ntiness keeps him in it. Guendouzi seems to have the attitude of a winner as well. He wasn't always great this morning but he holds his own with more experienced guys, it was notable that it was him taking the yellow for the team late on when we needed it. 

Holding was pretty good I thought. Why is Emery sticking with Mustafi over Sokratis? Is it because Sokratis actually plays as a right-sided CB like Holding, so Mustafi actually has free reign on that spot? I bloody hope not. Mustafi has pace and can do some good things, but his brain farts are too frequent, he is a liability at the worst moments sometimes. 

Also Leno is looking the goods, he's impressing more with each game that goes by. A calm head too. 

We need to play a young lineup against Blackpool and rest some of these guys for Liverpool. Very nervous about that game. I'd be over the moon with a draw to be fair. 

Think Sokratis is still recovering from injury.

Mustafi is a right sided CB too. We only have right sided CB except for Kos.

Oh whoops got me rights and lefts mixed up hahahaha

Mustafi for me should be clear 4th in the pecking order if all fit, given Holding's form. Sokratis looks quite clearly better than Mustafi. 

I am very much looking forward to a Koscielny/Sokratis combo, both in their natural positions, with Holding on the bench and Mustafi out of the side. I think we're going to have to take a hit on the outlay for Mustafi, and look to replace him with someone better, who plays on the left side. 

Mustafi can fudge off. He puts two good games together and then reverts to type; every. single. time.

Kos wasn't perfect but he was normally consistent, except for the odd fudge up in (usually, unfortunately, in big games)

With Mustafi’s form & Kosc’s age we need a big marquee signing in this position in the next 12 months. Chambers coming back should help, but I can definitely see Kosc gone when he’s fit again and Mustafi given the flick for obvious reasons.

Just landed in London for tonight’s game, absolutely fizzing even though it’s only a cup match! Hopefully Iwobi gets some game time, mrs loves him.

Got no idea who Pleguezuelo is. But good to see Jenko back. 

I think Pleguezuelo is a young CB. Mavropanos will be gutted with his injury, he would've got time today. I'm assuming they will probably line up like this?;

                             Cech

Jenkinson Mustafi Pleguezuelo Lichtsteiner

             Guendouzi Maitland-Niles

      Mkhitaryan Ramsey Smith-Rowe

                          Welbeck

Looks like Jenko's actually playing on the left, and Lichtsteiner the right, otherwise as above

Nice goal from Lichtsteiner, great ball from Guendouzi.

I see it's being reported that Ramsey will stay until the end of the season, then leave on a free. Not too surprising given recent rumours, and his place in Emery's pecking order. Being a back-up to Ozil in the 10 role doesn't justify the wages he wanted unfortunately. 

Also does the latest events at keeper suggest to anyone else that Leno has quietly taken the no.1 spot now? Cech has been back a week or so, sat on the bench, now gets the League Cup game. If this is how it has changed over then credit to Emery, he's just quietly done this without anyone having reason to be upset. The incumbent was given time at no.1, fair enough, Leno couldn't complain about that. Then Cech got injured, Leno's been given his chance, played well, and Cech can't really complain if Emery doesn't drop him. Bit of luck with the injury but it's worked out well in reality. Provided Leno continues to play well, we now need to convince Cech to take the no.2 role for a couple of seasons in his old age! That would be a really strong combo to retain over the next while. Having a quality no.2 is a hard push these days *snigger*. 

Forget the result, the yids at home in the next round. Play them twice in 2 and a half weeks to put them back in their place

Well I went into a meeting right after our 2nd goal, feeling comfortable, then came out and all hell had broken loose! Thankfully we scraped it in the end. 

Guendouzi suspended for Liverpool. I believe Monreal should be fit, so we shouldn't see Xhaka at LB, and therefore shouldn't need Guendouzi. But he'd probably have come off the bench at least, so it is a costly red card. 

Man I hope Bellerin is passed fit, apparently he's touch and go?

We are missing our fullbacks right now. 

That was a real dumb red card. That's all I have to say. Rest of the game was a bit of a snoozefest but was good to get the win.

Yeah fairly average atmosphere in the stadium too. Mrs got to see Iwobi which was good. Jenko, what a lad. First start for us in 2 years and at Leftback and was handy. Coquellin 2.0 guys, watch his rebirth now. 

Watching the play from a higher angle was interesting. Firstly I noticed Emery didn’t sit down at all, just constantly moving and supporting his players. Mhiki and Smith-Rowe alternated a lot from left and central position. In possession the rotational movement of players was fascinating. The way the defenders regularly sprinted backwards to open the play, or the midfielders received, lay’d off a pass, then actually bolted away. It was like watching them all get really close so the passes were 1-2 feet apart and then they’d all run away from each other to make heaps of space. Fascinating to see.

Julian P was solid at the back next to Mustafi, read the play really well, got some great tackles and blocks in. Would love to see more of him while we’re a bit light.

Cech is done. He looked very old and languid in his movement. Leno looks the better keeper too!

You going to any other games while you're over there brumbys?

Dropped a few dimes at the club store brumbys? Dang I spent thousands in that place, like a kid in a candy shop

Haha, I see what you did there.

holding back on the club store, a move over is on the cards + new adidas contract means I’ll try spend it when we’re local. Unfortunately just this game. Only other option is Liverpool at home but alas due to ticket prices & availability I’d be agreeing to a divorce to attend that game!

My commiserations on the impending divorce Brumbys :)

And on that, Cech did not look convincing against Blackpool yesterday, probably the worst keeping performance of the season? 

I think Leno might have that starting spot now. 

I think that getting injured has simply derailed Cech's season. I feel bad for him, as I feel like he finally recaptured his Chelsea form prior to injury.

Anyone know anything more about this story? would be pretty seismic if this came off. I've heard two different proposed ideas. One, it replaces the champions league which is what this article suggests. the other idea is that they would leave the nations league and play an mega clubs only season. 
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/...

Shark idea, not a fan.

I venture it's invevitable in the longer term, but in the short term, leverage for bigger clubs in their respective leagues to get what they want domestically.

Would almost stop caring/watching if this happened.