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Week 15 – United get foul and the process rumbles on: Behind the Numbers
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"fucking unbelievable atmosphere"
Today’s post is over on the Arsenal Review. Please go there!
Comments are closed.
Leno
Bellerin
Lichsteiner
Mustafi
Socrartis
Kolasinac
Guendouzi
Torreira
Xhaka
Aubameyang
Lacazette
Subs: Cech, Koscielny,Momreal,Eleneny,Mkhitaryan,Iwobi,Nketiah
Dang, we thought MU were dirty, Huddersfield is showing them how rotational fouling is really done. Holy cow. Guendouzi and the midfield in general is having a tough first half in possession and the team really needs some creativity. That said we should be at least one goal ahead on the wrongly ruled out Lacazette goal or one of the two big chances we created.
Wow, that was terrible from an attacking perspective and yet, three points and we march on. This was a game that looked like might peter out into a draw and we had next to nothing going even after the patented half time substitutions, but sheer persistence at one end and security at the other finally paid off. The biggest positive for me from this game was at the back for Arsenal. Besides the chance for Pritchard I don’t remember them having a decent shooting opportunity all day. I saw players busting their sack to get back time after time in a game where we’ve just played three grueling matches in the span of 7 days. I saw under-sized attackers challenging for headers against bigger players time after time in ever zone of the pitch. The collectivist revolution under Emery continues apace.
On the down side, I’ve seen Arsenal with such little creativity at home and even worse, dive all over the place like that, that’s just embarrassing. We clearly missed the influence and subtlety of either Ramsey or Ozil in this match, a deficiency Emery tried to remedy by introducing Mkhitaryan and Iwobi but both players looked unsure of themselves and lacked the requisite composure under pressure. The strikers lacked composure as well, I would’ve bet my house on Lacazette testing the GK unmarked and 8 yards from center. But the diving has got to stop. The players probably feel like they have to do it to keep pace with the other teams in terms of penalties and it’s somewhat understandable in the wake of Son’s double dive salvo the other day that they would feel that way but man, those were some pathetic attempts to con the referee and we are better than that.
Emery Does Tactics:
Late in the game when we were looking for goals, Guendouzi seemed to be instructed to hug the left hand touch line to combine with Iwobi and Kolasinac, and from there he delivered angled crosses toward the back post or passed inside to Iwobi who then tried to release Kolasinac in behind. Huddersfield weren’t sure how to handle that and Emery seemed to be testing the resolve and positioning of part-time RB Hajdergonaj who replaced the stricken starter, Smith. That overload was our main source of creativity besides transitions (which Huddersfield defended expertly) and yielded the best opportunities in the second half which was somehow even tighter than the first. Wagner responded by bringing on Durm to fill that RB place but it didn’t matter, Arsenal found the crucial opening from one such position 10 minutes later. The goal still owed much to the persistence and quick thinking of both Aubameyang and Torreira but the opportunity arose for Guendouzi to put a ball in under such little pressure because Huddersfield were selling out to stop the Iwobi-Kolasinac combination in behind them. Emery saw that and put his players in a position to profit from the spaces that were left open.
That was an odd starting eleven with no obvious playmaker, with Guendouzi being the only obvious outlet for creativity in both 1st & 2nd halves. Have to say that he did admirably & even got himself a card for diving (but was it?). Chances missed by our forwards and little Lucas acrobatically settling the match near the end. Probably the worst game I’ve watched this season.
Oh! and another central defender out for a few weeks?
Can’t complain about the result but that was tough watching. One we would definitely have lost under previous management.
I await the line-up against Southampton with bated breath.
Looks like the ‘kick arsenal’ tactic is coming back in full force.
Personally, i’ve had enough of it after the last time and I hope that people start calling it for what it is more importantly, arsenal fans don’t get on the teams back and expect them to just ‘deal with it.’
Great result at Chelsea. Yes, they overtook us for 3rd in the table, but City losing is the best result for English football. Here’s hoping Leicester does us a favour against Spurs.
Interesting that both Kante and Torreira scored today 🙂
As for #ARSHUD, saw only highlights, so can’t say much. Horrible decision to annul Laca’s goal. Would VAR rectify these injustices?
Arsenal need both Ramsey and Ozil back, because when our 2 elite forwards struggle to get goals, you’re not going to be able to depend on Iwobi, Mhki or Xhaka, whose attempt on goal from distance is one of the most woeful efforts you’ll see.
That man Torreira again.
Sorry brother but the Chelsea result is only “great” if your dislike for City outweighs your desire for Arsenal making the top four.
Nonsense. 24 games to go.
I wonder whether Emery or anyone working for the club shares your feelings on that.
Im gonna bet that they welcome the runaway favourites being reeled in, and a shorter points gap between us and the top.
I didn’t realize there were extra perks for finishing closer to champions point tally while missing out on top four.
I seriously doubt Emery cares who wins the league and by what margin in his first season, when he had clearly stated top four was the objective.
I actually did bet Arsenal to finish fifth and even though it would be worth quite a few bucks if it were to happen, I wouldn’t mind losing that bet if it meant Arsenal finish higher.
Also , Liverpool winning the league would be better for Arsenal since theirs is the closer to our business model and offers hope for near future.
Having said that, Arsenal are at least a couple of TW away from even dreaming about challenging for the PL title and missing out on top for finish will only make it that much harder to do business in any of them.
Chelsea and Tottenham losing points against anyone is always the better option for Arsenal as things stand.
Had we not spurned 2 great chances in the 1st half we wouldn’t have huffed and puffed our way to 3 points against a relegation zone team with a whopping 9 points on the season and a -17 GD.
Always hate Chel$ki winning but very happy there remains only 1 undefeated team and it’s not yet Christmas. Liverpoo your time will come…
God knows what our central defence will be against Southampton.
Mustafi; injured/suspended. Socrartis; suspended. Holding ;injured. Mavro; injured.
Probably have to play Koscielny & Monreal plus one other & hope for the best.
Anyone up for a centre back pairing of Lichtstonreal (or Monsteiner if you prefer)? Should be more than enough to see off those wastrels from the South Coast right? Right??
And with Xhaka and Torreira sitting deep to protect them, and with Torreira also playing auxiliary striker, we’ll be difficult to beat. Who knows how we’ll line up, but it’s fascinating to watch Emery managing this squad.
I see people talking about how tough this game was to watch. It was! But this is the same team that entirely forgot how to play football for the 2nd half of last season, with the addition of a keeper, a pair of players that are still too young in Torreira & Guendouzi, and a pair of soldiers that are collectively too old in Sokratis and Lichsteiner.
The quality level at the top of the league is insanely high right now. And we had the beating of the Chelsea team that just beat City. We’re getting it done without our two best creators in Ramsey and Ozil, and the team could’ve been adversely impacted by the Holding news.
But we toughed it out. Maybe we just accept that points matter more than performances at this stage and appreciate how entertaining the Wenger/Emery transition’s been so far. And don’t worry lads, Sven’s definitely gonna do some Xmas shopping.
This is a good comment, I agree that in the context of recent events this win was especially good, despite its flaws. We now have a mostly stable platform defensively which means even the odd goal can win us the three points, and that is huge progress in and of itself.
I think if Koscielny and Monreal are fit, they have got to start as the CB platform. If Emery wants to stick with three at the back, Lichtsteiner can join them. It would be fine, mostly, against a pretty devoid Southampton side, even if there will be the obvious honeymoon period with Hasenhuttl coming to town. I’m not sure that’s the right call though since Southampton will mostly want to sit deep and waste time; one less player in advanced positions may mean they can do more of that. On the other hand, a makeshift defense needs more protection than usual. I would expect more of the same from Emery, hopefully with the addition of a fully fit and raring to go Mesut Ozil. If he is firing, we can destroy that team.
Shout out to Sokratis, he has been terrific lately. Aubameyang-Torreira-Sokratis is the spine of this Arsenal team and it’s proving supple and durable.
So a weekday game next with no worries other than wishing for no injuries. Looking forward to seeing more exposure for our academy players this Thursday vs. Quarabag. We’ve topped the group and other than giving vital experience to our youngins there is literally nothing else to play for. I can totally enjoy that.