2018/19 wants and expectations

69 comments

1. Hi Tim, great question about expectations. It’s funny that under Wenger we were so stodgy about 4th place *again* and now it’s our highest hope… of course it was primarily Wenger’s rigidity in emphasizing style over graft that led us to this point.

   What I expect in a less tangible sense is progress. I want to see a balanced team that looks competent in both phases. I want to see individuals take steps forward and demonstrate that they are learning to do things they didn’t do before. And it’s already happening. Mesut Ozil’s 4 tackles against Everton definitely fall into that category! Grant Xhaka’s direct free kick and corners fall into that category! Petr Cech’s improving ball skills fall into that category as well. But we need much more of that type of thing to improve as a football club. Hector Bellerin’s awareness of space behind him. Mustafi’s split second decision making and general panic. Aaron Ramsey’s propensity to get too far forward and stay there. Granit Xhaka’s chocolate leg. Aubameyang’s toughness in duels. The list is long, but it looks like we have a manager who is not only aware of these issues, he is actively addressing them. And that’s a form of progress in and of itself.

   In terms of what I expect to happen, that’s more of a mathematical model in my head than tied to emotions. I expect us to finish between 3-7, much more likely between 4-6, most likely 5th behind Tottenham. But I do think it’ll be close. I expect us to very nearly win the Europa league, unless we are drawn against Atletico. That was a brutal draw for this team and would be once more. And I expect a deep cup run. But most importantly, I want to see a roadmap for the future and starts with individual improvements.

2. Finishing above T. Spits is the bare minimum, a basic essential, a right of passage for the new manager, and the club’s birthright.
   I’m not going to get too crazy with my expectations about what this club can accomplish this season but if the players play to their FIFA 19 stats and harness those skills in Emery’s system, we will be just fine.

3. The Ozil situation is tough. I do think he’s looked pretty up and down this season, and I don’t think we can play all of Auba, Laca, Ozil and Ramsey at the same time. Not enough width. I think one of Ramsey/Ozil is going to have to go/sit. And Ozil’s salary is too high to make that easy.
   But on the one Ozil incident yesterday that drew the most criticism from Lee Dixon and others, it actually looked to me like Ozil had his arm grabbed and was pulled back out of the challenge. He then stopped and looked annoyed, not because of not getting the ball but because he was expecting a call.

4. In retrospect, it’s pretty amazing that we finished 6th last season with our abysmal away record. Also, it’s pretty amazing we only finished 6th last season with such a good home record. It’s a tale of two Arsenals and a lot of it boils down to mentality which in turn comes from not really having a game plan. What I would like to see is this dichotomy slowly disappear and I say that with the full awareness that road games are generally tougher than home games due to atmosphere, familiarity with pitch, being road weary etc. I think we have already improved in that regard even though the last two road games have not been stern tests.

   I would also like us to be more compact when team are pressing our defenders and trying to create turnovers high up the pitch. Emery has tried a few different combinations in midfield but he hasn’t tried starting with a pure 4-3-3 yet. It always feels more like a 4-2-3-1 or a variation of it . When we play Watford next week, I would like to see us deploy a more traditional 4-3-3 with all 3 of our midfielders playing closer to the defenders.

   My hope is that we will score 12 more points than last season. I think it’s reasonable to expect 4 more wins than last season. That will get us to a respectable 75 points. Whether that gets us to 4th, I don’t know. It wasn’t on 2017 (Liverpool was 4th with 76) but it will be a step in the right direction.

   1. In the first half against West Ham we played a proper 4-3-3. Ramsey wasn’t at 10 but on the right of a midfield 3 (where he should be played, if at all, in my opinion), with Miki ahead of him on the right of attack. Emery *seemed* to switch this at halftime with Ramsey suddenly playing more like a 10, though maybe that was just Ramsey Ramsey-ing…

      I would *love* us to try a 4-3-3, and do it for a while. But Emery loves his 4-2-3-1. The only time in his career he’s strayed from it (so I’ve read), is when the PSG players basically mutinied and insisted he switch back to what they knew best. I fear he’s going to persist with this formation and this lineup, with little improvement in fluidity, until we have an ugly loss (with any luck, could be this Saturday!).

      1. Goals: top 4, Europa League trophy, finish above Spuds.

         Expectations: with any luck, one of the first two above (but not both), and no St. Totteringham’s Day again this year (I desperately want them to crash and burn this season, of course, but I fear they’ll get their sh*t together by mid-season, as they seem to do every year under Poch)

   2. Emery is not going to change from 4231.

      1. Guardiola on Sky pre-season – “I know what Unai will play. 4-2-3-1” He said it with 100% conviction, like it would be unthinkable Emery might play a different system.

         1. yeah, I’ve thought a lot about that clip. it came across as not just confident, but ever so slightly condescending (though not disrespectful or without affection), like Emery is his little brother and Pep knows he has his number.

            I’m starting to fear his lack of flexibility in this regard is going to hold our squad, especially this talented attack, back this season. Hope I’m wrong.

         2. Yep.

            It’s his thing.

            1. Seems like Emery prefers to tinker within one formation by using different combinations of players, vs. tinkering with multiple formations. He will get a pass this year, unless the wheels come off completely, so I don’t blame him for his approach. He knows there are some big changes/transitions coming in January and June. He’s playing the long game. At least I hope so!

5. In mid-August my main wish was to be back in the Champions League for 2019-2020 either through a 4th place finish or winning the European Minor League (the Europa League).

   Watching the 1st European game last week it did feel minor league for me: a half-empty stadium against opponents (no disrespect intended) who would probably struggle in the Championship. Definitely not the Arsenal I used to watch.

   7 matches in now, it seems natural that expectations do start to shape more firmly in the minds of supporters but we start so slowly and are still so vulnerable defensively, I honestly don’t what to expect from this side.

   We are winning and it’s impossible to be churlish or dismissive of that. Real progress, I guess finally is what I expected and the current qualifies. Let’s build on that. And maybe nick the League Cup?

6. It says something when Mesut is getting praised for doing his job, which to EVERY footballer, includes trying to dispossess an opposing player running with the ball close by him. Basically, as Tim explains in the Arsenal Review, he started to DO HIS JOB.

   Do. His. Job. I thought Tim’s piece in the Arsenal Review, put Ozil’s performance brilliantly in context. It’s worth quoting in full…

   “…..In the first half, the commentator here Stateside (Lee Dixon) ripped Ozil for a pathetic defensive display where he let three players just walk right past him and pulled out of challenges when they were there for him. It was part of the spirit of the team, to be fair, because the starting 11 only attempted 10 tackles in that first half. But in the 2nd half, Ozil alone had 6 tackles (led all players). Ok so, he only won the ball twice off those tackles (and was dribbled past twice) but he also had an interception in the 2nd half and led the team with 3 blocked passes! I know that Ozil’s job isn’t “destroyer” – he’s not an eater of worlds like Coquelin – but he is there to be part of the team and he can’t just let players walk past him with the ball without even putting in a challenge. So, while I’m just speculating here it looks like the half-time team talk was about Ozil’s “positioning” and how he should be putting in more defensive work. Credit to Unai if true.”

   Ozil isnt on the pitch simply to hit pretty passes, and leave the dirty work to others. Yes, he’s is one of the best No. 10s in the world, but he wouldn’t have lasted a day with the Invincibles, a pleasingly bastardly and demanding bunch of players. Heck, even Bergkamp got stuck in.

   But to Tim’s wider point, the biggest ding we can make on Emery so far is that Arsenal look turgid. But hey, if we are channelling Brad Gilbert, fine. I’ll take wins over aesthetic beauty every day. The problem with that is more talent teams like Liverpool and City will frisk us, ask us more… on the press, and tactically, and we’ll have to have answers.

   1. ( 👆🏽Response to Doc, misplaced)

   2. He would have been absolutely brilliant with the Invincibles (as an alternative to DB), precisely *because* he’s on the pitch to hit “pretty passes,” and the rest of the side could have done his dirty work just fine, thank you. With those teammates, in that era, he would have smashed the PL assist record.

      1. Yeah it was a rougher era, but it was also one where everyone had WAY more time on the ball, compared to the current era of pressing and hyper organization without the ball.

         All those great goal highlights of the Arsenal scything through opponents from back to front seemingly at will? That wasn’t just because they were vastly superior ball players and had a once-in-a-generation talent in Henry. It’s also because the Arsenal creative players often had time to get their head up and pick a pass. Defenders tried to “get in your faces” in a primitive, agricultural way, but teams (at least in England) hadn’t figured out how to work as a collective to assure that players on the ball were constantly suffocated of time and space. The Invincibles just wengerballed their way around the cloggers’ best attempts to “get in their faces” (Danny Mills, I’m looking at you), thereby exposing acres of space left unguarded in other areas of the pitch. Mesut Ozil would have had an absolute field day. And with that solidity and physicality in defense and deep midfield, his shortcomings in defense would rarely have been punished.

      2. Im with Lee Dixon on this one.

         “Edu, would please kindly come over here and tackle this man 3 feet from me”, would not have worked in any era, I’d have thought 🙂

      3. ehhh… I think the comparison to Bergkamp’s a little bit way off the mark niggle.

         Bergkamp dominated games in ways that we rarely see from Ozil. Bergkamp was also one of the dirtiest players on the pitch and when Arsenal were getting kicked, he would elbow someone in the face.

         Yes, there were matches where Bergkamp went missing but most of the time he was imperious. Ozil in contrast just vanishes a lot. He also quits on his defensive work.

         There was a quote from Vieira about players putting in the work and everyone was expected to play both ends of the pitch, except le Bob because Pires won them games by scoring goals. Perhaps, Ozil might have made it into that side but it would have been at the expense of Pires, not Bergkamp, and I don’t know if we would have been nearly as solid defensively as you seem to think.

         1. I love DB, but we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I’m not saying I’d replace him with Ozil(!), or that they would give exactly the same sort of contribution, in stats or style. It may well be that that (extremely amazing) team would have been slightly less good with Ozil instead of Bergkamp.

            All I’m saying is if you dropped Mesut in that team in Bergkamp’s place, he (and the attack) would have excelled. He certainly would have looked much better than he has for the dysfunctional team he’s been stuck in over the last few seasons. So I guess that’s me also committing to the claim that nothing DB did for that team (defensive or otherwise) was so crucial and impossible to reproduce that you couldn’t swap him for Ozil and still have had a successful side. As successful? Obviously I have no idea.

            But *certainly* DB’s “defending from the front” is not in that category of crucial and irreplaceable contributions, such that without it, the team would suddenly have started leaking goals.

            (Also let’s be clear: by, say, 2003-2005, Dennis wasn’t an ever-present in the starting 11, and Arsenal were still very good on many occasions without him, relying on the less-than-world-class contributions of the likes of Reyes, Wiltord, Kanu, and young RvP.)

            1. And Ozil wouldn’t have been the player he is today in that era either, nor would Dennis be the same if he was coming through today. The football culture of your age defines you and your ability to express yourself, doesn’t it? It’s so difficult to compare even one generation back because the game has changed so much. Back then, nobody was analyzing Bergkamp’s body language and there was no referendum on his photo-ops with people of shady human rights records. Ray Parlour had just about stopped eating pies, Martin Keown could just about get away with assault on the pitch and Tony Adams was just about sober most of the time. It was a different age. That said, it flatters Mesut to be mentioned in the same category as an all time great like that. My take is we were lucky to have Dennis then and we are lucky to have Mesut now. Let’s just enjoy them both.

            2. Kanu was absolutely world class… thank you!

      4. I’m actually physically wounded that you would compare Ozil to Bergkamp. Bergkamp frightened opposition. He made them scared they might have their noses busted, ankles broken and ribs cracked while they watched the ball sail into the net from 20 yards out. Ozil scares no one.

         1. Huh?!?!
            Whoa, who’s “comparing Ozil to Bergkamp”? I intended to do no such thing (though I think the above memories of him, particularly of his contributions late in his career, are, shall we say, a tad overblown).

            I simply meant “if Ozil was played in the DB (aka withdrawn forward/number 10) role in that 2001-2005 team, he’d have been sensational.” Not that he would be better, or all that similar to, DB.

            1. You can overblow me!

               No but seriously, watch this video. That’s the final match of the 2004/05 season.

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PboL6hSIb9M

               Bergkamp was a god compared to Ozil.

            2. What Jack said. Exactly what Jack said. We’ve found ourselves in some interesting territory discussion-wise, but let’s not stray far from the core, original point… which is that DB10 wasn’t some pretty aesthete who left the unglamorous work to others. He did his share, but was still in a league of one creatively. Mesut simply doesnt do enough team defence, consistently enough.

               Youre right about football changing, PFo. And that means all 10 of your outfield players have to pull a shift off the ball. No exceptions. Pep, Klopp, Poch and even Jose do it (far less footballistically), Pep most effectively and aesthetically pleasingly.

               If we had 6 more players with Torreira’s attitude, we’d be competing more, even if their skill level is lower than Mesut’s. He got (a lot) better 2nd half. He had to.

               Big picture-wise, we have too many tackle-shy players in our First XI, in the era of the press… Ozil, Bellerin, Auba, Xhaka. That’s too many. We will always have first halves like we did against Everton with that imbalance. They’ll all good players, dont get me wrong, but we have on the field at once, too many players who don’t tackle. Know whose workrate has surprised me? Lacazette’s.

               At the moment, we are set up to outscore the opposition, because we have (imo) two of the best forwards in the league. And that will be enough for many games.

            3. Whoa Tim. We’re not going to go down the “my youtube video is more impressive than yours” way of settling these arguments, are we?

               –Bergkamp was a genius
               –He was great his whole career
               –He was better than Ozil, at least in performance if not talent, and with the caveat that they’re completely different players

               I was merely responding to the frankly ridiculous claim by Claude that “he wouldn’t have lasted a day with the Invincibles.” Such hagiography is unsurprising but hardly convincing. I simply pointed out that there are plenty of reasons to think he would absolutely thrive in the middle of a very talented, very functional team structure with lots of power and physicality behind him and pacy and skillful runners in front and to the sides of him. This strikes me as an overwhelmingly reasonable conclusion to come to.

         2. Claude says,
            “Big picture-wise, we have too many tackle-shy players in our First XI, in the era of the press… Ozil, Bellerin, Auba, Xhaka. That’s too many. We will always have first halves like we did against Everton with that imbalance. They’ll all good players, dont get me wrong, but we have on the field at once, too many players who don’t tackle.”

            Lol, well, I suppose we’re all entitled to our opinions. That’s certainly *a* take…My own is that we’re imbalanced, but it’s not from not having enough “tacklers” per se, at least no more so than it’s about not having enough players who are skillful and intelligent when using the ball. The likes of Holding, Bellerin, Mustafi, Cech, Xhaka, Ramsey, and Auba–good or excellent players, all–display serious technical and tactical deficiencies on and around the ball that have been hindering our play in possession. E.g. we STILL can’t handle much of a press. This, more than tackling, is where we’re struggling most, in my opinion (though there’s a pretty long list of things to work on, to be fair).

   3. Do your job! Go Patriots! 😉

      For my money when someone starts doing something well, I say: Way to go buddy, let’s have more of that! And not: You should’ve been doing that all along! Difference in styles I suppose.

7. And having watched the game again, you called it right, right after on the last thread… Xhaka wasnt as good as I thought he was initially. My feed kept crashing as critical points… I blame Granit’s family 🙂

   Torreira’s numbers were poor too, but the one intangible to his play is positional awareness. His tackling, for one, was off. I noticed on 2nd watch that he struggled with lack of organisation more than anything else, and probably felt that he needed to put himself about to put out fires. He reads the game well, even if he was not at his best yesterday, and that’s something that prime Arteta had.

   The key to balancing Arsenal may be playing with one pivote when Torreira is up to speed, and playing Ramsey from the back of midfield where he is most effective, putting Ozil back in the middle, and playing a genuine widey (or someone who plays the position as well as Miki and Ibwobi) wide out right. We should not let our feeling about a single pivot be guided by how Granit has interpreted the role over the past 2 years.

   How will we finish? Im sticking with my start of the season prediction-cum-hope — above Spurs and Chelsea, but behind the 2 Manchester teams and Liverpool.

   And speaking of Chelsea, if there was any justice in the world, Lacazette would displace Giroud in Deschamps’ first XI. Our French striker is playing out of his skin… scoring, passing, pressing from the front.

   1. Thank you for doing that!

   2. No way Jose: Ramsey can’t play in a double pivot alongside Torreira, or anyone else for that matter. We’d have to go back in time 5 years and have him relearn that position properly, with someone other than AW as his mentor. In a trio? Yes, maybe/probably. But a completely different question.

      As much as we (me included) would like it to,
      It. Will. Not. Work.

      1. I said, single pivot, bredrin…

         1. Semantics.

            You said, “playing Ramsey from the back of midfield where he is most effective.” You’re suggesting he plays as part of a two alongside Torr, though not in a “pivot” in the sense that he stays put, yes?

            It won’t work. At least not unless he decides to completely change his outlook and concentrate on being a proper midfielder, making huge improvements in this part of his game with lots of time on the training ground. I think it’s too late for him to make that kind of transformation, and anyway I don’t think he or Emery are interested in doing so. But we’ve been around this one before…

            Another things I’ve been thinking about:
            Ramsey’s success there in 2013-14 was not just about Arteta, though people tend to give Mikel credit for covering for AR (and, of course, in that season like many others, we were too exposed on the counter, to the high press, etc; it just didn’t cost us in a big way until later in the season when Ramsey was injured). And Arteta was great (though still limited as a DM). However, I think the presence of Cazorla (and the likes of Rosicky, Wilshere, too) as one of our outside attacking mids that season also helped Ramsey a ton, since Santi could tuck in and help with our deep buildup, breaking the press, recycling possession, etc, freeing Rambo up to push ahead without unbalancing the side. This was before Wenger moved Santi deep, but he was such a brilliant player, in the Spanish tiki-taka style, that he had a big influence on our possession play all over the pitch (and, I’m sure, in defense too) even while mostly playing from wide. We don’t have a player like him in the current squad, which is another reason why Ramsey in a midfield duo will unbalance us.

            1. 1. You may not have noticed, but we ARE unbalanced. Badly. We are the 4th worst team in the league in giving up shots, and one of the worst in yielding key chances. And that’s counting relegation fodder. We are a like a Dutch sluice gate. Cech, statistically, is one of the busiest and most worked goalkeepers in the league. The numbers, if you care to gander, are in a certain blog on a certain site I wont name. But you were having a mosey around there this morning. You’re a smart guy… you know what they say the definition of insanity is, right?

               2. Defensively so far, we were worse than we were last season. Again, we are the worst team in the Top 6 for goals conceded. What is the definition of insanity?

               3. You appear to believe that the 2 in a 4231 is ALWAYS a double pivot. It isn’t so. MANY teams play with a single pivot, and either a runner, tackler or ferryer. So Ramsey playing in the 2 and not being a pivot (he isn’t) is not semantics, it’s football.

               4. We’ve not seen so far what a capable single pivote can do. We have only Granit Xhaka’s not-that-great interpretation of the position to go by (and Arteta’s, to a lesser extent).

               5. Emery will get only so far (a) playing players against their natural inclination, or (b) giving up so many shots. So in the meantime we have Globetrotters ball — pepper Cech, but we have enough firepower to outscore you. Im sure it’s not intentional and that the coach is trying his best with the resources that he has, but we are one of easiest teams to slice through in the league. That’s worrying.

               Im also slightly worried that it’s taking worldie hits (Laca v Newcastle and Everton; Auba v Newcastle) to beat teams by one-and two-goal margins. Having two world class strikers hit world class strikes have bailed us out, in ties far less demanding than against bigger opposition. Liverpool will rip us a new one.

               What’s the definition of insanity again?

            2. The shotstopping ability of Cech is not to be underestimated. He was our best player on Sunday, by a mile.

8. Last week I turned the game off after the first half because it was such shite. This week I only turned it on at half, so I missed the shite Arsenal. If we can play like we did second half the rest of the year, I’m good. That’s improvement. There was actual pressing.

   Xhaka is still defensively garbage, why is his tackling so poor? Mertesacker was 10x slower and clumsier and would never have gotten baked like Xhaka did toward the end there where he threw his leg backwards because he’d turned the wrong way – a more astute opponent would have said thanks, and used it to trip into the box.

   I stick with my expectations at the beginning; 6th and Europa League.

   1. I think Xhaka might not be the smartest.

   2. It’s reading. Remember that taunt that Duke supporters used to direct at NC Chapel Hill about JR Reid? “JR can’t read.”

      Xhaka is a slow reader of the game, and he just cant seem to smell gathering danger quickly enough in the way that some very good readers of the game — Per and Hierro for example — could. Arteta made up for a loss of leg speed, by superlative reading of the game. It’s why, long before he stopped playing, people in the know thought that he’d become a good coach. It’s not coincidence that Per is a coach too. Xhaka can look like he’s strolling, but he really isn’t. I’m sure he cares and is trying hard. He’s just not reading the play. Freed of the responsibility to be defensively aware and react to danger, he looks a good player. For Switzerland, Behrami is his water-carrier.

      If you watch closely, you can see players who read well. Matic, to name one in our league. Busquets, to name another. From the little Ive seen of Torreira so far, he reads well, but he’s not quite up to speed on the pace and intensity of the EPL yet.

9. We won’t win the Europa League. Or, I’d be very surprised if we did. Chelsea must be favorites, and I think we’ll be surprised (again) at the quality of opposition that drops in from the CL group stages. For example, I think Tottenham will join us in the Europa League, and I don’t see us beating them this season in any encounter.

   This isn’t me being down at all. This is me acknowledging that we’re in a massive transition year on and off the pitch, and so I think next season is when I say “I expect fourth and a trophy.”

   1. (But, of course, as Tim makes clear in his post, what I want and what I expect are two different things!)

   2. It’s all about ‘da draw’.

      Super fingers crossed that Chelsea and Atleti play each other.

      Also, I think we can beat Tottenham this year.

      I’m weird that way.

      1. Hold on, aren’t Atleti in the CL again? Please tell me they are…

         1. They are, and we have to hope that they remain there into the R16!

            1. But we all know that they won’t and they’ll be back to play us in the final of the EL or something.

10. I echo the wants – Top 4 and ahead of Spurs. Euro trophy would be a huge ask, per Bun, although I don’t see Chelsea as out of our reach, based on our previous match. That said, I am tempering my expectations. I think we finish 5th, with ManU behind us. There are 2 big unknowns for me:
    1) How will we respond when we lose 2 in a row, possibly one to a bottom half team (Because it will happen.) Will we revert to our Wenger-era lack of confidence and fall into a downward spiral? Or will we figure out how to win ugly, as we have so far?
    2) What moves do we make in January? I would expect a CB and possibly a winger or LB to be bought. And one of the following to be sold: Ramsey, Mkhi, Ozil, Auba or Laca. Yep, something’s gotta give. Unless Unai can create harmony from that dysfunction and shoehorning, at least one reasonably big name is going. If Unai won’t change the system, we will have to change the roster.

    I find it troubling that 3 of our 4 wins have been against the relegation zone (as it stands today – very early, I know), and we struggled for good parts of each match. Watford is going to be an inflection point. Based on that performance we will get a read on to what degree we are just playing down to opponents thus far, or if we have a much much tougher climb ahead. With a defense looking so porous, and an attack that is so out of sync, I suspect this weekend might be a painful reckoning. We will need to be better to get 3 points.

    1. Great points/questions.

    2. -_____-
       By CB, do you mean “center back”?
       You know we have five of those in the team already, right? Sokratis, Dingus, Koscielny, Mavropanos, and Holding.

       1. I get where he’s coming from, quality over quantity, but I don’t think the individual quality of our CB’s is even in the top 5 of the reasons we’ve looked porous as a defense. It would take some player to compensate for those weaknesses, but some might argue just replacing Mustafi would be a step forward. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up on him just yet though, and I don’t see that as being a major priority. If there’s a player or characteristic this team is missing, it’s an explosive attacker who can beat his man off the dribble or rip the top off of a defense, or at least threaten to do so therefore giving our other players more space to play. I would’ve loved us to pick up Adama Traore this summer. Oh well.

       2. Yep. Mustafa is disastrous. Kos is – if we are lucky – good for 1-2 seasons. Maybe not. Sokratis is not young. Holding and Mav are still unoroven. A bona fide guy who settles things and bosses the defense. The injury to Sokratis points out how thin we are back there.

          1. *Mustafi. Sigh.

          2. Kos wants out at the end of this year. He’s more or less admitted that he was prepared to leave at the end of last season after Wenger announced, but that his injury put that plan on hold.

11. Want to get to the promised Land? Get Alexis back from Man U.
    Seriously though, wtf? The highest paid player in the league hasn’t scored a goal since last March! Atom and Humber have scored more goals randomly pawing the control pad on FIFA 2018.
    Couldn’t happen to a nicer team or manager.

    1. I attributed at least some of Alexis’ bad form last year to being disgruntled. I didn’t expect him to take United to a championship this year, but I never would have guessed he’d struggle this badly. Planning to stop by the United Reddit today just for kicks and giggles.

       1. He’s still disgruntled, just in new and better ways that sets him, his wife, his dogs, his aunts, uncles, cousins and all their kids and grand kids up for life. 😉

          Pogba’s disgruntled too, as is Mourinho. The gruntling at Man United this season is a wonder to behold. Let’s hope they fall a few more points further behind before they get a clue and become ungruntled by sacking Mourinho.

          1. Nothing to be surprised at, really. Mourinho’s third season syndrome plus there is a significant lack of bonhomie in the Man U ranks. Liverpool and Man City have larger than life charismatic managers and players who have been playing together for more than 5 years. While Spurs tend to collect a certain character of player with low ego and ambition (I don’t know how they manage it!).

             At least, Arsenal now tries to manufacture it by getting players who have played together before or know each other from the same league (mostly Borussia Dortmund types). Manchester United though, they just keep buying the latest flavour of the year superstar to work with their abrasive manager. The Morata/Lukaku debacle was a prime example of this, they didn’t care which player joined or if their psychological profile matched the club’s, as long as some famous young hotshot joined.

    2. Alexis had one goal to his name in his last eight Arsenal league games before he was signed by Mourinho.

       Before those eight games he wasn’t exactly on fire either and I was arguing at the time that putting him on such wages would destroy United’s top talent chemistry ( Pogba mainly) and add ridiculous amount of pressure to his game in a much more tactical environment than he was used to under Wenger.

       I can’t recall another transfer ( free or otherwise) where a player would triple his wages while at the lowest point form- wise in his professional career.

       I don’t get many predictions right but this one was strangely obvious to me.

       I wonder if Claude might have any thoughts on that.
       Sorry buddy , I didn’t mean to be a di#k about it 🙂

       1. It’s fine, bro. I thought it was excellent business for United at the time; you didn’t. So far, time’s proven me wrong and you right.

12. On a different note, this is a fantastic article on the BFG:

    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/23/per-mertesacker-arsenal-save-the-children-zaatari-refugee-camp-football-program?CMP=share_btn_tw

    1. What can you say? The man is pure class. We are lucky to have someone of his character at the club.

13. I don’t condone violence, so apologies for liking this story
    https://twitter.com/5liveSport/status/1044305472218529792

    1. Great stuff, appreciate the link, thanks.
       It irks me to no end that so many neaderthals in North America still somehow think of soccer as game for sissies. Say that to Vieira, or Bergkamp, tough guy.

    2. Lol!

14. Ozil won the world cup with Germany having a similarly strong back 6.
    I don’t want to overblow the analogy with Bergkamp (or even Pires) in his prime Arsenal years but I see no reason why he wouldn’t have been very successful had he been playing back then

15. I’m sticking with my original predictions of top five ( at best) and 72-75 points.

    As for my wants, I want judge Kavanaugh to be confirmed and can’t wait for him to shove his junk in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s face after one of the drinking games the Supreme Court holds weekly.

16. In terms of what I want, I think I am from the minority that prefers pretty loss than an ugly win. Of course, the best would be a pretty win, but if that is not possible, I still prefer the players to play with passion and creativity. This is the reason why about twenty years ago my heart chose Arsenal, and not Manchester United, and today it is still valid for me.
    Watching Arsenal since the beginning of the season was not very pretty, but my expectations is that this will change until the end of the season, at least a bit. When players learn how to position themselves correctly, hopefully will mean more fluidity in the game, more movement and more creativity.

    In regards to league position, it might sound crazy, buy I expect us to finish 3rd or 4th, behind City and Liverpool, fighting with Chelsea for the bronze. I am one of the few that don’t care about Tottenham’s league position (I would prefer to finish second behind them than seventh in front of them), but I expect that the lack of squad refreshment during the summer will hamper them and they won’t be able to reproduce the good form from the last year.
    Call me a dreamer…

17. I don’t think we know enough about the team to see if they are resilient and ruthless enough for a cup run. This is not Wenger’s side any more. If they go deep in any of the cups I will be happy but my expectations on that front are minimal. We will learn about the team on that front as we go.

    In terms of the league table I have no goal or expectation for where we will finish. In terms of measurable success I would like to see us increase our points tally, increase our goals for, decrease our goals against, decrease the number of chances we allow and reduce our error rate. All of that would mean progress, and would likely result in a higher league finish – but that is secondary.

    Stylistically, I want Arsenal to be exciting to watch, to play attractive football, to execute our tactics well, to be resilient and to allow the flair players to show their talent. Right now we are not hitting any of those regularly except maybe the resilience.

18. Hi Tim… Does any of your ‘think’ mentioned here goes into your predictions page?

    1. “Thinking” and “feeling” are the precursors to prediction.

       What, specifically, would you like to see over there?

19. So Ramsey’s off. The Orn has all but confirmed it. Well, that’s the end of the Ramsey-or-Ozil conundrum at least. This current squad is too top-heavy (unsustainably so given that many similar-aged top AMs and strikers).

    As Tim Stillman said a few months ago, it’s not the end of the world. Yes, Ramsey is an incredible player but it’s not as if we don’t already have world-class attacking midfielders in our squad, let alone a proliferation of really decent up-and-coming talent to keep the positions competitive. I actually think it will make life easier for Emery; balancing this many players who expect a starting place must take its toll on tactical efficiency.

    Let’s do a Liverpool and sell him overseas (any guesses at a price tag? £35-£40m? Maybe Raul is a better negotiator than Ivan and we can aim for £50m+… just saying!). We can then splash the cash on a top-dollar defender with maybe a little on the side for proper wingers…

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