We have to hope and pray for Jose to play him up top - it took him nearly a year to realise martial needs to be in the starting 11
Arsenal 2018/19
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
the scary thing watching Arsenal last night was the noticeably increase in Fitness. While it is damming on Wenger, to the untrained eye it looks like they have improved their fitness dramatically. Transition, tempo and sprints look so different, particularly in the second halfs.
I do wonder just how far they can improve if there was such a window of opportunity by just improving fitness, how much further can Emery improve them through coaching & adding some serious defenders to the squad.
I do wonder just how far they can improve if there was such a window of opportunity by just improving fitness, how much further can Emery improve them through coaching & adding some serious defenders to the squad.
It's a fair cop,
.That's a great goal though (now I've seen it).
And the pass for the other one is Platini-esque. Beautiful.
They play a style which exposes their defence but importantly accentuates their strength (forward play). They'll need major surgery defensively to be up there with City, Liverpool and maybe even Spurs. They offensive talent though can hurt any side in the league.
Exactly. One of the most useless deal ever. Both add nothing to Arsenal and United.
Still, you lowered the wage bill, rid yourselves of a disrupting influence, and got a player you can actually sell on if nothing else.
The thing is they are beating lower teams with remarkable ease and consistency. Also, unlike Chelsea, they haven't been overly reliant on a single player.
Lets just say they drop just 9 points vs Non-top 6 teams (in 28 games, basically 3 defeats in the remaining 21 games) , we're talking about 75 points, and I would fancy them to beat Spurs, us and maybe Pool at home. That's top 4 guaranteed. If they nick an upset win over any other top 6 rival and we're talking about a top 2 finish.
Lets just say they drop just 9 points vs Non-top 6 teams (in 28 games, basically 3 defeats in the remaining 21 games) , we're talking about 75 points, and I would fancy them to beat Spurs, us and maybe Pool at home. That's top 4 guaranteed. If they nick an upset win over any other top 6 rival and we're talking about a top 2 finish.
All the Top 5 are slaughtering the other 15 atm. There's only been Tottenham losing at Watford & 3-4 draws from 35 matches I think it is.
This isn't totally unusual, although I think it is happening to a bit of an extreme degree this year. It usually flattens out as the best teams get busier, injuries & more tired & so on as you'd expect.
I don't think we're much further on with knowing as opposed to predicting than we were at the start. Or put another way, there's not much evidence to say who might be about to crack - the goal differences might be a clue & obviously City look very strong.
This isn't totally unusual, although I think it is happening to a bit of an extreme degree this year. It usually flattens out as the best teams get busier, injuries & more tired & so on as you'd expect.
I don't think we're much further on with knowing as opposed to predicting than we were at the start. Or put another way, there's not much evidence to say who might be about to crack - the goal differences might be a clue & obviously City look very strong.
Off YouTube:
That's true. With Iwobi doing well, we don't need him anymore.
Iwobi is yet another Wenger gem.
Erm, no. West Ham held Chelsea and beat Man Utd. Wolves held both City and Man Utd. Lower teams have a knack of causing upsets which usually define the course of the season.
The Top 5 vs. 15 stats are (might be 1 out, I can't be bothered to check back to get it spot on)
Pld 34 W 29 D 3 L 1
Goals 85 - 14 is it? something daft
oh yeah - Spurs lost at watford, draws are City/Wolves, Chelsea/Utd**, West ham/Chelsea & another 1 maybe
Utd are not Top 5 anymore, the Top 5 are City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal for this
see the race for top 4 thread - for more depressing stats on Utd being contenders or not (mainly not,
)
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City and Chelsea were Emerys first games to be fair, so it will be interesting now how we will play against Liverpool.
Liverpool had the same games (Home vs City, away vs Chelsea). Liverpool could have 0 points in these games too (Mahrez penalty, Sturridge wonder goal in the last minute - we missed about three sitters against Chelsea).
And the difference is, that Klopp is already there for three years and now have a squad to compete for the League, so it's a very good start for us.
Emery already won a EL final against Klopp, so he will now how to play against him. (Interesting, that Sevilla turned it around in the second half, like Arsenal many times in this season so far).
Liverpool had the same games (Home vs City, away vs Chelsea). Liverpool could have 0 points in these games too (Mahrez penalty, Sturridge wonder goal in the last minute - we missed about three sitters against Chelsea).
And the difference is, that Klopp is already there for three years and now have a squad to compete for the League, so it's a very good start for us.
Emery already won a EL final against Klopp, so he will now how to play against him. (Interesting, that Sevilla turned it around in the second half, like Arsenal many times in this season so far).
Klopp has had 3 seasons and spent a huge amount of money so far. This last window alone compare their midfield and keeper signings to ours:
Torreira - £27m
The doozy - £7.2m
Leno - £22.5m
= £56.7m
Keita - £54m
Fabinho - £40.5m
Allison - £56.25m
= £150.75m
Now it is not unfair to say that the Arsenal three have had more of an impact on the side already than Liverpool three have had on theirs. Torreira has unquestionably when compared to Fabinho and Keita, and Leno has been very good so far, especially with playing from the back. The doozy has been great too and is playing with some balls, but he's young so I expect he'll hit the wall soon.
Obviously it's early days and that Liverpool players were bought are those hefty prices for a reason - but it just goes to show that with some clever purchases by targeting players that fit the managers game-plan, a change in the teams identity can happen quickly. You don't need to throw crazy money at the problem.
Now typing out those figures makes me really realise for the first time that Klopp is surely under some pressure to deliver.
Torreira - £27m
The doozy - £7.2m
Leno - £22.5m
= £56.7m
Keita - £54m
Fabinho - £40.5m
Allison - £56.25m
= £150.75m
Now it is not unfair to say that the Arsenal three have had more of an impact on the side already than Liverpool three have had on theirs. Torreira has unquestionably when compared to Fabinho and Keita, and Leno has been very good so far, especially with playing from the back. The doozy has been great too and is playing with some balls, but he's young so I expect he'll hit the wall soon.
Obviously it's early days and that Liverpool players were bought are those hefty prices for a reason - but it just goes to show that with some clever purchases by targeting players that fit the managers game-plan, a change in the teams identity can happen quickly. You don't need to throw crazy money at the problem.
Now typing out those figures makes me really realise for the first time that Klopp is surely under some pressure to deliver.
11 wins in a row with a winning goal from Danny fecking Welbeck.
Arsenal are being awarded for finally getting rid of a dinosaur manager who couldn't adapt to the modern game and hiring a decent manager.
On the other hand, we have a single win in past 7 games, with that single win being against Newcastle who have 2 points from 9 games, and Ed is dragging his feet to save paying out 20M to Mourinho.
Arsenal are being awarded for finally getting rid of a dinosaur manager who couldn't adapt to the modern game and hiring a decent manager.
On the other hand, we have a single win in past 7 games, with that single win being against Newcastle who have 2 points from 9 games, and Ed is dragging his feet to save paying out 20M to Mourinho.
Arsenal this season beat my expectation and I hope we can challenge for top 4. Emery has been doing a great job so far.
I know Arsenal's form will fall away, but I'm still hugely impressed by their run. Who would have expected that squad we all felt was bang average to be 2 points behind City at this stage? Madness.
Can they win the title? Heard myself saying David Brent I'd bloody love her to be a widow style I'd bloody love it to be Arsenal.
Reunited.
They looked very impressive against Liverpool, defense was poor but the way they pressed and attacked was good to watch. They look good organised team.
They stifled Liverpool completely, and played through Liverpool's midfield as if it was not there. Especially Torreira is a nifty little footballer. Arsenal had lot of good chances to score. Although as bad as Liverpool was, they also had some very good chances, hitting post and getting a goal ruled out.
Overall draw is a fair result, but Emery is doing a great job. Of course some Arsenal fans today pretended it as if Emery is doing wonders with a squad of Watford. They already had very good players, mostly in forward department. Emery identified the problem areas quickly, and it paid dividends almost instantly. Last season's Arsenal underachieved massively, but this season they look well set for future. Of course, I don't see anybody except Man City winning it.
Torreira has been such a great buy.
I disagree that their defence was poor vs Pool. Torreira played a blinder and created a solid shield in front of the backline. And they easily contained Salah who was virtually anonymous. And Liverpool has one of the best strike forces in the PL.
Emery is transforming the mentality of the team. It's great to see the team fight out games now, no longer are they dropping their heads when going behind - they're going harder instead (how raunchy). It's been a while since we have seen this.
Also credit to Emery for getting more our of the maligned players like Mustafi, Granit and Iwobi. They have all been good this season (and at the very least they have been much better than they were last season), with Iwobi actually playing in excellent form.
Also credit to Emery for getting more our of the maligned players like Mustafi, Granit and Iwobi. They have all been good this season (and at the very least they have been much better than they were last season), with Iwobi actually playing in excellent form.
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He's been amazing. The president of Sampdoria was right in saying that if he was 6'2 he'd be worth 100 million (or something like that anyway).
Torreira is the kind of DM we need.
Emery has done a fantastic job. Was very impressed with how they dominated Liverpool in the middle of the pitch. Thier players kept taking up clever positions and I can only attribute that to coaching.
Minus Torreira, it's virtually the same squad .
Kudos to him.
Emery has done a fantastic job. Was very impressed with how they dominated Liverpool in the middle of the pitch. Thier players kept taking up clever positions and I can only attribute that to coaching.
Minus Torreira, it's virtually the same squad .
Kudos to him.
The sad thing is Torreira would have sat on the bench if he signed for us
Joining in the Torreira praise. He is the player Wenger needed for the last 5-10 years.
Yeah Torreira was good but Xhaka was better IMO. This is probably the best game he played for Arsenal, at least in the ones I watched. He was everywhere defensively, he was the one who played lot of passes and if I'm not wrong he was the one who made superb sliding tackle in the box when Salah was almost free.
Both played well but in this game Xhaka > Torreira.
Both played well but in this game Xhaka > Torreira.
Emery has done a great job in such a short period. This isn't his team yet and he's already competing with Liverpool who've had much longer time with Klopp. He needs another 2/3 transfer windows still to get some more of his own players and then Arsenal will be a real force to be reckoned with.
Has there been a worse swap than Mkhi and Sanchez one? Both have been close to useless and both got a wage increase in the new clubs.
Yeah, looks very promising for Arsenal. They play from defense, their GK rarely kicks long, always passes the ball to CBs or FBs. Also their wing attack is very good to watch.
Indeed. Emery is very good at adapting to the players he got. He quickly realised Arsenals strength is in attack and in the strikers and focuses on quickly transitioning from defence to attack. The 4-2-3-1 with two hard working defensive midfielders allows them to focus on this strength. I also like how quickly he settled on his best 11, benching players that don't fit his system like Ramsey for example, something our manager is still figuring out after 2 years.
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I was already hoping Leno would save the pen when i saw Xhaka go to ground but it was a great challenge
Granit Xhaka vs. Liverpool: Most passes of any player on the pitch (84/97 completed) Most tackles of any player on the pitch (5/7 successful) Most ball recoveries of any player on the pitch (15)
Granit Xhaka’s 15 ball recoveries against Liverpool were the most made by an Arsenal player in a single PL match so far this season, while Lucas Torreira made the second most of any player on the pitch against Liverpool, making a total of 10 ball recoveries.
He's really taking full advantage of Torreira's workrate and when we add Guendouzi with them to close games, it's so satisfying to watch a functionning midfield.
Haha, delicious indeed.
Agree in that Xhaka played arguably his best game for us against Liverpool. He's been much better this season, and I don't think it's any coincidence that his form has dramatically lifted since Emery took over and Torreira has come in to the side.
It was a weird game against them. They definitely played better than we did, but then it felt like we had far better chances to win the game. Van Dijk should've scored at least once and Firmino hit the post before Mane's rebound was ruled out for offside.
There's also been a suggestion that they kept Salah out of the game but he created more chances than anyone else on the pitch.
What they did do very well is prevent us from playing through the middle. Torreira and Xhaka were outstanding and allowed little to no space for us to play. I thought Holding was excellent as well.
I'm starting to think that Mkhitaryan might not be suited to English football though. Iwobi seems like a better option for them at the moment.
There's also been a suggestion that they kept Salah out of the game but he created more chances than anyone else on the pitch.
What they did do very well is prevent us from playing through the middle. Torreira and Xhaka were outstanding and allowed little to no space for us to play. I thought Holding was excellent as well.
I'm starting to think that Mkhitaryan might not be suited to English football though. Iwobi seems like a better option for them at the moment.
Xhaka’s having an excellent season, a dramatic improvement from last year. After Iwobi the player who’s most benefited from Emery’s arrival.