Arsenal 2023/24

Well that was a disaster. While the VAR call was appalling we can’t blame that when we can’t finish the chances we created & conceded goals like this.

brumbys

Well that was a disaster. While the VAR call was appalling we can’t blame that when we can’t finish the chances we created & conceded goals like this.

pretty hard to watch. Players looked short on confidence to take the right option at either end of the park. 
We had enough to beat them and on most other days we would have. but we didn't, and that has been a theme of this season.
 
I wonder if a European-less season might be a blessing in disguise and give us a chance to focus on the league... 

Hi all. Just to let you know what's up. Turns out some of the longer trends are slowing down the forums (even before the upgrade). So we've decided to split the gunner thread out into smaller ones. In the future, it's best if there is a new thread for each season. Hope that makes sense. 

2ndBest

Hi all. Just to let you know what's up. Turns out some of the longer trends are slowing down the forums (even before the upgrade). So we've decided to split the gunner thread out into smaller ones. In the future, it's best if there is a new thread for each season. Hope that makes sense. 

 out of curiosity, was the gunners thread the longest on the forum? I feel like it went on forever. 

It was. Almost 18k posts. Next closest was mainland football at 15k and another gunners one at 13.

Nice one 2B.
Touching post on Arseblog today in honour of his dad who passed away, definitely worth a read.

2ndBest

It was. Almost 18k posts. Next closest was mainland football at 15k and another gunners one at 13.

There's been a lot to be miserable sods about these last 10 yrs, clearly

to be fair to us there has been a lot to be disappointed/miserable about over the last few years.

great goal from Odengaard to put us 1-0 up against Olympiakos, 10 to go in the first half.

and not surprisingly a defensive error from Caballios leads to an equalizing goal p just horrid, lazy pass out form Leno and gets stolen from the defender leaving the goal wide open.

Gabrieeelll!!!!! great goal from the corner. Lets hope we dont screw this lead up now. VAR checking a potential foul on the defender. 
GOOOOOAAAALLL!
3 changes from Arteta to close it out Smith-Rowe for Odengaard, Elneny for Willian and Pepe for Saka.

Elneney!!!!! another long range screamer! 3-1. What a shot!
Olympiakos woill feel they deserve better han a 3-1 loss here but we've shown that we can shoot and should be doing it from distance more often. We try to walk the ball into the 18 yard box way too often. It's predictable and easy to defend.

Thank duck we didn't duck that up. Love that mo scored. Again disappointed in Danny Onions. 

Gah. Autocorrect on the new phone is killing me 😂

You know he's playing poorly when I prefer to see Willian in the line up instead of Ceballos. How many EL mistakes is he going to continue to make.

Came on to post about the game but now all I can think about is the auto correct to Danny Onions hahahhahaha that is gold

paulm

Came on to post about the game but now all I can think about is the auto correct to Danny Onions hahahhahaha that is gold

Unfortunately that's not an autocorrect.  Cebollas is onions in Spanish. As that's close to 'ceballos', I call him dani onions sometimes. 

GET THE FUCK IN.
Lamela's goal was fudgeing ridiculous but unsurprising given the goals they scored against us last time. 
Kudos to Arteta, the balls on that man to bench Auba in a NLD and get the result.
Stoked to see Lamela get sent off, he is such a cod.
Great peno from Laca, and nice to see MO11 scoring from Ramseyesque runs into the box.
Sad Mourinho is the best Mourinho.
NLD is red, we're only 4 points off them now.
Only 2 points behind Liverpool, who would have thought that would happen this season?!
COYG

Lamela cost them and almost won them the game! Great goal and one very unnecessary second yellow.
Good to see us win tough, despite dominating the stats.

Very rusty this morn but through without much doubt anyway. 
Ceballos was a bit poor I thought, and midfield overall did not operate too well. 
Struggled to create and finish without Odegaard and Saka out there. 
Big game this weekend. 
Oh and of course spurs LOL

Yup, Ceballos as a number 10 doesn't work - isn't quick enough for it. Deep lying play maker is more his jam. I think Odegaard, ESR, Saka is my preferred list of starters for that spot.
Whilst our game produced nothing entertaining I did enjoy watching Sp*rs collapse.
It's going to be a cracking summer for them, Jose will get the sack, Kane will be sold to raise funds, and Luiz signed on a free!

Well, that was an absolutely mad game. No idea what the fudge the lads were thinking first 30 minutes. The first goal for WH was an outstanding finish, but the second was school boy stuff. Leno should have stopped it, Tierney should have been watching the ball and tracked the run, and Partey should have stood over the ball instead of walking away. Their third was fairly lucky fox in the box stuff, Antonio's header wasn't really doing much...
But then the come back.
Never thought I'd hear Carragher comparing Chambers to Cafu!
Both teams could have found a winner, draw felt fair albeit disappointing.

brumbys

Well, that was an absolutely mad game. No idea what the fudge the lads were thinking first 30 minutes. The first goal for WH was an outstanding finish, but the second was school boy stuff. Leno should have stopped it, Tierney should have been watching the ball and tracked the run, and Partey should have stood over the ball instead of walking away. Their third was fairly lucky fox in the box stuff, Antonio's header wasn't really doing much...
But then the come back.
Never thought I'd hear Carragher comparing Chambers to Cafu!
Both teams could have found a winner, draw felt fair albeit disappointing.

thought that was the best I can remember Chambers playing for us. he took good options and controlled the play down his flank.
Oodergard is amazing ay, such not an arsenal player. While things are fluctuating around him, he is cool and consistent. It won't happen, but I'd love him on a permanent deal...and that his level of play would rub off on a few other players.  

Will be interesting to see the state of the team post the internationals. Ceballos was our only CM not called up, Willian, Laca, Nelson, Martinelli our only forwards, Luiz, Bellerin, Mari, Holding, Chambers, Gabriel all stayed behind.
Saka held back for injury concerns & ESR ruled out of England's second U21 match isn't ideal.
Leno will be glad he wasn't selected at all for that shock loss to North Macedonia!

Shes a long road back eh. 
Really poor game but have to take the hat off to Liverpool a wee bit, they were quite exceptional I thought. 
Xhaka was a huge miss for us, Ceballos just aint the answer. This is the area of the pitch we most need another purchase in my opinion. Elneny is a functional squad member but in a big game like that, we need someone better than him or Ceballos. 
Also wonder if we're looking at another contractual mistake with Aubameyang. It was a tough one because a part of re-signing him was to boost the mentality and confidence of the fans and the playing squad, and it may have been damaging in that moment for him to leave. But now that he's stayed, you do wonder if he really fits Arteta's style. Yes he will always get goals, but that's really it. He's a poor tackler and his ability to contest and hold the ball when we really need him to is non-existent. I do feel that ESR/Odegaard/Saka with Laca up top is the best combination for us right now. And if we want to go with less creativity and more raw ability then Pepe coming in for ESR is better too, for that stylistic fit. 

I think Auba works if he's getting service in behind on the break, or cross to tap in.
I think Arteta was wrong to start Laca on the weekend, Pepe on the left and Martinelli on the right with Auba through the middle would have given us the pace and energy to put more pressure on their defence and be a bigger threat on the counter.
Laca got destroyed by Fabinho all day, while Partey & Ceballos endlessly turned the ball over.
I found it a fascinating insight into life without Xhaka, and hopefully some of his haters will see why he's playing. 
The scary thing for me is Xhaka can play OK with Elneny/Ceballos alongisde him. Partey is yet to prove that.

Another lineup and I’m not convinced, this was another great chance to have Pepe, Auba, Martinelli running at a high line. The two misses from Laca summed up why he was the wrong choice.

Weve done more than enough to absolutely batter them in this tie, the missed one on ones and stray final balls have been very frustrating. 
The game plan and execution up until the final third has been spot on.
Vital that we don't concede an away goal here, we have looked a little ragged at the back after turnovers in the second half. 

Your point looking pretty spot on here brumbys
Weve absolutely swamped them since Arteta subbed the whole front 3 for the front 3 you mentioned! Great composure from Pepe there

FFS!
Switched off at the end, Cedric lost his man, Tierney would've never!

I really can't see us winning in Prague. That away goal equalizer was a killer.

hoping that maybe Arteta learned something today, the change he made to the front three suggested he wasnt seeing what he wanted.

Gooner 4 Life

I really can't see us winning in Prague. That away goal equalizer was a killer.

Have they got fans back?
Will be interesting to see if they hold the high press, as I could see us scoring a hatful with the right forwards if they do.
Auba has a lot to prove after being dropped for Laca who has since missed key chances.

Also, is Partey on track to become the latest decent player we break? He's losing possession quite easily and his passing isn't what it needs to be.

I'm not Arteta out by any means, but he better be fudgeing learning through these fudge ups for next season. Arseblog's commentary today was excellent on this - his use of substitutes, team selection up front and down the back, has been his downfall. I appreciate we don't see the trainings etc, but consistently picking Lacazette in games where we need to counter quickly, or changing his CB pairings regularly is less than ideal - same too the substitutions at 78 minutes, especially in the EL when you have 5 subs. 

                       Leno
Chambers Holding Mari Saka
                Partey Xhaka
        Pepe Ceballos Martinelli
                Lacazette

Although when we attack I wonder if it'll look more like
                  Leno
Chambers Holding Mari
          Partey Xhaka
     Pepe Ceballos Saka
    Lacazette Martinelli
Update: all of this was wrong - Xhaka played LB 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

That was comfortable, and all 3 were good goals. Nice to see the confidence back in Lacazette in front of goal, Martinelli doing Martinelli things, and Dani doing his best to replicate Ramsey breaking from deep on the counter attack!

Short of an epic collapse,  we will meet unai in the semis!!

That was nice. 
A date with our boy Unai awaits!
Actually fond of him to be honest, with the passage of a little time. Taking over from Wenger was always going to be a poisoned chalice. Moyes suffered a similar fate at ManU. 
All that change and upheaval, with Gazidis, Sanellhi, Msinltat and everything, poor fella was on a hiding to nothing in the end. And if the last handful of games in his first season had gone differently then it would have completely changed the narrative of his time with us. We really should've qualified for the Champions League that season.
I'm happier with Arteta now, and what we are hopefully building, but am grateful for Unai giving it a crack, and happy to see him doing pretty well back at Villarreal.