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

We haven't won there for 10 years and we knew they'd be up for it compared to games against Rochdale etc. They didn't look fluent but they were up for the fight, it was never going to be easy. 

Overall a point is definitely acceptable, but the performance wasn't great. The first half was woeful from both teams. 

Again showed good fight and resilience to come back, a good second half, Guendouzi was a machine again. We need to be starting better though.

Pepe does look rusty, particularly when shooting, but it's early doors, he needs time to acclimatise. I'm not worried at all, seems very negative to write him off, particularly when he has more output than Henry and Bergkamp at the same stages of their Arsenal careers hahahaha. I jest but that is actually true. 

Very enthused about the look of Saka, hopefully he can deliver a bit more while Pepe acclimatises and Lacazette works his way back. He's immediately overtaken Reiss Nelson which is quite surprising. 

Torreira is a concern for me at the moment. He was clearly picked to try and win the ball high up the pitch yesterday but he looked like he lacked energy, and I don't think he ever did win the ball. Where is the player from this time last season? Just doesn't have that zip and anticipation right now. 

Credit where its due, Sokratis and particularly Luiz were very good yesterday, after some underwhelming stuff of late. Chambers did his job, probably the best he could, but for me it did show he won't be a right back for us against good opposition. He does well to get forward and has nice touches, but he's not a natural athlete, which we need there. Bellerin's return to fitness is timely. 

When will Willock start the biggest games? For me he's our best midfielder right now along with Guendouzi. Got to start. Adds something the others don't. Would've done better than Torreira in that same role yesterday I feel. 

And what is the deal with the Ozil situation. This is the most prolonged forcing out of a player I've ever seen. To be fair to Emery, he's probably right, Ozil pretty much never turns up in the big physical away games, so if you're picking on the merits of each single fixture  in isolation (which is Emery's style), then I agree, Ozil doesn't even travel. But to be our highest earner and not make a match day squad is not a tenable situation. Either Ozil adjusts his game, which he has already had ample time to do, or he simply must go in January. It's sad, but surely the reality. 

At least we can all laugh at Spurs today.......oh and four goals by an ex Arsenal player. I bet that went down well.

And apparently Vertonghen got caught sleeping with Eriksen's missus???? Crikey they've gone full John Terry over there now. Is this Spurs doing a proper full Spurs this season? 

You love to see it. They've been "good" for too long now. 

Sp*rs ay....

Spurs gonna Spurs. Several years too late but Gnabry now an Arsenal legend!

Spursy

our captain...

Hmmm an interesting lesson in how to couch your statistics here. 

That graphic offers pretty much nothing in the way of real analysis. 

For example, which current Arsenal players have had a comparable number of appearances in that time period (more than 3 seasons)?  Bellerin, Mustafi, and that's about it? Hardly any of our squad have been here anywhere near that long. 

Average numbers per game would be the right measurement, not just a total. 

I am pretty sure that Sokratis, Luiz and Leno would all have a higher error-leading-to-goals average per game. Leno made 3 or 4 last season from memory alone. 

In terms of possession lost, I am extremely confident that most of our forwards would have a higher per-game possession loss than Xhaka. Loss of possession is probably the thing that annoys me about Xhaka the most, because it happens in bad areas, but that doesn't mean the stat in the graphic is of any value at all. In fact I would doubt it's accuracy - that works out to roughly 8 times per game. 

From memory wingers often average around 10 - 20 losses per game. Alexis regularly clocked over 30 per game when playing for us. 

This is not any kind of defence of Xhaka, he is bad with giveaways and discipline, and frustrates the hell outta me, it's more an attack on badly compiled statistics!

Kids doing the business again. 

Tierney, Bellerin and Willock need to be in our first eleven, stat. 

KT looks the absolute biz.

100%. So excited watching him play. Dare I say it this early, but looks the equal of Bellerin??? 

Two quality fullbacks...

Martinelli looks the goods.

Willock is my new favourite. The lad just keeps on doing the business. 

I'm keen for Tierney, Bellerin and Willock to come into our starting eleven, perhaps Holding as well. 

However there's only 3 days until Bournemouth, so might be too risky for the guys coming back from injury.

Looks like the smart decision will be to bring them in to start in the premier league after the international break - none have been picked for their national teams. 

So get through Bournemouth this weekend at home, 3 points, and we've got a base to work from I reckon (easier said than done with our first team's current form!). 

Then Bellerin and Tierney to take up the FB spots after that. 

Great result last night but Martinez was a bit flappy. Equally Bellerin ducked away from a ball being smashed at his face, where's the outcry?!

The big question for me is WTF is going on with Ozil? That game was perfect for him, and when pressed on it Emery talked about other players deserving the spot more than him. I'm not sure this is the way to handle a £350K PW player, we're essentially writing off the 1/3rd of our annual Adidas deal on his wages and getting sweet FA for it.

The interesting thing for me is seeing how comfortable the kids are playing. I'm wondering if some of our senior players are a bit broken from the Europa League final still and that's why they're playing cautiosly.

Even better, take them to the pub, they'll be bayern the first round.

solidi-ish game this morning. We didnt create much and we didnt let them create anything either. it was good to see us forcing them to shoot from distance rather than being able to walk into our box as others have done this season. Also, surprisingly impressed with Chambers. I thought that he had had his time at the club. but he is showing otherwise. 

Excellent result, particularly with the other results this weekend. 

Rusty again at times, particularly in the 2nd half, but job done. The defence looks quite improved over the last couple of games. Chambers has made a difference defensively, AMN had not been doing well so far this season. Kolasinac, man that guy can switch off sometimes. Does some awesome things, and some very bad things, a frustrating player. 

Now we've got through that, Bellerin and Tierney will be in to start after the international break, love it. I am expecting them to transform our play to be honest. 

Guendouzi is getting more consistent, he's started to deliver in every game he plays now. I don't think it's over-stating it to say that he is the character and driving force of our team right now. 

Martinelli looked at home when he came on. Riess Nelson not even making the bench now. With Iwobi and Mkhi going, he had a starting berth at his mercy, but Saka and now Martinelli have overtaken him in the pecking order. Bad for Nelson but good for our team. Letting our more experienced wide players go was a gamble that looks to have paid off. 

Pepe was rusty again, I think he will take more time to acclimatise. But man he does have very quick feet, I am confident he will get up to speed. 1 goal, 3 assists and 2 MOM's so far is not too bad considering he should only get better.

It's hard to believe we've been mostly off the boil so far, yet we're 3rd, 1 point behind Man City, with only one loss so far (at Liverpool). And 3 of our 8 games have been against "big 6" teams, so we've had a harder draw. 

Hopefully having Lacazette, Tierney, Bellerin and Holding all fully fit after the break is going to give us a boost. 

And for the love of god we need to sort the Ozil situation. Surely if this is how it's going to be, he needs to leave on loan in Jan. This is the kind of situation where we're going to have to take a hit and pay some of his wages. 

Tbf we are 3rd with the knowledge that we can improve our performances, especially on a more consistent basis. 

yea so what is the go with Ozil? is it just a freezing out of him? Or has he been a cod? I know there was the carjacking incident earlier in the year that was pretty unsettling for him. 

Kolasinac is back and starting regularly, who was also involved. That can't be it any longer. 

My guess from Emery's comments, and the whole atmosphere since he came in, is that Emery and the coaching staff place massive importance on training. It seems when you hear players and coaches talking about training, and see the stuff on the Arsenal channel and all the social media from the players, that Emery essentially picks his teams based on who is "winning" at training. 

Ozil is a notoriously light trainer from all accounts, and he also struggles with illnesses quite regularly. Emery's ethos is that you gotta be firing at training, day in day out, to get picked. If Ozil is not doing that, then he can't make a concession for him, it's just not his way. And he can't change his way to suit one player. 

If my guess is correct, then I'm totally fine with the ongoing non-selection. He's got to prove himself in training, end of story.

However this is just my best guess. Could be any number of other factors involved. 

Emery's recent quotes on Ozil were savage, essentially post the EL game saying that others deserved to be in the team more. Again it's hard to know if Emery is trying to prove a point like last year, or if Ozil's being a cod, or a bit of both.

Either way thats a lot of money we're pissing away.

This feels like dejavu after last year's 22-game unbeaten run, which turned out to be wholly misleading.

If you don't perform well, and you don't look like a team who is improving aspects of their game each match day, then long-term it won't happen for us. I don't think we've improved anything in this one a bit years of Emery at the helm.

Luckily Man Utd are a basketcase and Spurs seem to be faltering.

The positives are that Bellerin and Tierney are still to come in; they *could* make a massive difference, but only if Emery instructs them correctly. At the moment, Pepe is receiving the ball without a real overlapping full-back which is impacting his performance. If Emery continues to be conservative then I don't think anything will change.

Pretty much agree valeo, although with a slightly more positive spin as per our usual respective viewpoints ;)

It does feel a little like that unbeaten run last season, but the difference is we were mostly fit then, and it fell apart when we got an injury crisis in our defence. This time round we're on the opposite trend with our defensive injuries, so I'm feeling more positive about where it will go from here.

Great point about Pepe and not having an effective fullback playing with him on that side. 

Here's an unexpected statistic... Emery has the highest win rate all time for all arsenal managers... and the highest goals-per-game since WW2...... did not expect that!

I still think the difference between the EPL team and the 'kids' is that the EPL boys are feeling the effects of Baku, knowing we can't fudge up like last year again. The kids are playing with freedom and creativity and importantly taking risks that are coming off. The EPL boys aren't. Emery's mentioned confidence a few times and I think we need to see that.

I think Lacazette being MIA has hurt us more than we think. While Auba is great he's at his best in behind teams, not coming short and linking up with midfielders or winning balls in the air. With Laca back he can recieve a ball in the middle back to goal, find a Pepe or Ceballos who can then slip in behind Auba or an overlapping full back. At the moment Auba's either not recieving the ball at all, or normally taking a couple of touches.

Auba/Pepe/Laca's going to take a few months to gel but man it's an exciting prospect - especially when you've got Martinelli, Nelson, and Sako behind them ready to cover them if needed.

I mean, the 'kids' are playing worse teams in a more open cup comp v the league, which is always tigheter - so I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn there.

Laca/Auba/Pepe doesn't look like a balanced front 3 at all to me, personally. I think it has to be Saka/Auba/Pepe or Saka/Laca/Pepe
 

/

I reckon Auba/Laca/Pepe becomes a lot more feasible if Bellerin and Tierney are giving us the width that we need... otherwise I am in agreement with you on that one. 

Totally Paulm, playing that front three becomes lethal when you allow Auba & Pepe to cut in due to the wide support. Equally, though, both need to track back. Auba does that well, and Laca's also great at it as a leading striker. Pepe's got a bit of room to improve.

nice ramblely chat between Wright and Bergkamp. its long but has some interesting behind the scenes info in it. 

Tierney confirmed fully fit and available. Hopefully he makes his debut against Sheffield. Haven’t seen any comments about Hector but he must be close. Lacazettes back in training too.

After Ozil’s interview I’d love to see him start as a false 9 with Auba and Pepe wide of him and 3 midfielders behind him. Reckon that’s his best position in the current set up. That position is definitely Lacazettes when he’s available but we may as well experiment now than ignore the opportunity to try new things.

I tend to agree Brumbinho though I'd be surprised to see MO10 in any AFC line up between now and January when he leaves.

MO10 will not play until Emery leaves.

He also won't leave Arsenal.

Mesut is a great player, but simply doesn't suit the modern prem league.

False 9, now that's an interesting thought... never crossed my mind before. 

Pity we're blessed with some very good strikers or else that might be a real option. Would certainly help hide Ozil's biggest weakness - a lack of defensive intensity. 

He's an excellent finisher too. 

With the Ozil interview, and Emery's latest comments, I think we will see Ozil play games before January. Ozil is playing hardball on this one, and he holds the cards. He can turn down any transfer offer, permanent or loan, if he wants to. And it seems he's prepared to do so. He has no international commitments that require him to be playing, he can play the long game here, 100%. 

In my mind Emery is really forced to try something, or sit him with the reserves and pay ALL those wages. Emery's latest comments suggest he will give him time, and I think he will. 

No Ozil or Bellerin in the squad. Tierney on the bench.

Leno

Chambers Sokratis Luiz Kolasinac

              Xhaka Guendouzi

       Pepe   Willock   Saka

Ballon D'or nominee Aubamayang

VAR denies us a penalty, Pepe misses a tap in, Dean dishes out Saka a card for simulation when 30 seconds earlier could have done the same thing down the other end, and in absolutely classic Arsenal away form we leave a man unmarked on the penalty spot to tap home a knock down from a corner. 

Pepe's miss aside he's getting on the ball a bit better and actively looking for the ball to get on the game. His corners have been OK, just struggling to get anyone to connect with thim.

This is pretty yuck  thus far

Some good play, but some familiar failings.

Feels like the classic cold night in stoke.

I don't know why he hooked Pepe and left Sako on. The guy was playing much better than Sako and I'm sure he would have offered more in the final 20 minutes.

I thought that too. Pepe was dangerous all day. Should've scored that chance in the first half though. 

Very frustrating. Missed opportunity to go third. 

Surprised that Emery stuck with Kolasinac over Tierney. 

Disappointed in Willock's performance. Very quiet. I felt he earned this start and was expecting good things. He missed his chance to cement a spot there. 

Emery strikes again. 0 idea going forward. Bad defensively. He has no idea how to dominate worse teams.

I'm sure we'll play well in the Europa against a 2nd class team again though

At least you've got that to fall back on. United won't even "play well in the Europa against a 2nd class team".

The great thing about not being able to work is being able to watch AFC matches live.