Matteo Guendouzi has dismissed suggestions of a rift in the Arsenal dressing room and insists the Gunners can do ‘great things’ this season.
The 19-year-old, who signed from Lorient for £7 million this summer, started his third Premier League game in succession as Unai Emery’s players picked up their first three points of the season with a 3-1 win over West Ham.
Rumours of a bust-up between the new head coach and Mesut Ozil, who supposedly missed the game due to illness, made for an uncomfortable post-match press conference for the Spaniard, however, Guendouzi, talking to French radio station RMC, played down the reports.
“No, no, no, there are never tensions,” he said.
“Of course we lost the first two matches but there were very positive things in those first two matches, it should be noted.
“So now we won against West Ham and maybe we showed people who didn’t believe in us that we will be there this season and you have to count on us until the end of the season.
“We know what we are capable of, we have a great squad, a great staff. It’s a great club, we know we can do great things this year.”
The Gunners will look to build on their first win with away trips to Cardiff and Newcastle either side of the upcoming Interlull.
To fit Torreira, who’d you drop from starting lineup? Guendozi or Xhaka?
You could play both. Xhaka is a natural deep lying midfielder whilst Guendouzi is more a central one.
While i agree with your point, Neither of xhaka and guendouzi are defensively reliable. (not a complaint, just their playing styles). And when you put mesut ozil ahead to complete the triangle, it leads to a swashbuckling midfield of left footed passers that will leak goals against any half-decent attack.
Torreira at the momnent also has issues. He was better against West Ham but he has physical limitations. He has also been dispossesed. He is probably the more defensively aware but it isn’t as clear cut as many like to imagine. Granit for most parts against West Ham was solid. Many excellent forward passes and tackles. Its the same with Mustafi who is always maligned. Sure he has issues and isn’t the best but for example against West Ham, Sokratis also made a number of mistakes but they don’t get highlighted by the usual people who like to amplify those… Read more »
I’d probably give Xhaka and Torreira an extended run for now, although Xhaka frustrates me sometimes.
I like Guendouzi a lot and he’s going to be a serious player in the next few years, but he is still is only 19 and as a result will make mistakes from time to time.
It’s a long season and every game demands something else. I wanna get out of the habit of having a starting 11 that play every week regardless of the opposition or form.
Xhaka presents a conundrum for us as when we have possession, he keeps play moving and can pick a pass. Out of possession he can switch off and allow the opposition midfield to run right through us. Yesterday he had a solid game as we had a lot of possession.
I’d partner him with Elneny
Seems like Elneny is picking up a bit of a cult following around here..
Block after block after block… Just keep on building.
The problem is not whether there is or isn’t a rift in the squad. The real problem is that we look like a pretty average side right now. On another afternoon West Ham would have put four past us. Emery has to get moving quickly and sort out our defence. We looked very fragile against Chelsea last week and yesterday was no different. He has to make us harder to beat. The big problem is that he’ll need to wait until at least January before he can move in the transfer market. When Emery turned up a few months ago… Read more »
I read this post and re-read it. So far as I can see, there is no attack on Arsene Wenger, even an implicit one, anywhere. Congratulations, Fatgooner, your recovery program seems finally to be working. Now you can be pessimistic and angry based on the present, not the past!
The very fact that we are such a mediocre team is a sad indictment on the final Wenger years.
You just had to bait him eh? I won’t be surprised if Fats blames AW when he has erectile dysfunction.
Yep. It’s going to be tough to make our defence robust. I guess in spain you could expect Seville or Valencia to ship say 15 goals in a season to Real, Atleti, Barca quite easily. Not sure about the defensive credentials of the coaching staff Emery brings with him but it feels to me Steve Bould needs to start earning his pay check. Yes he is a general first team coach but if with his experience he can’t organise our defence them I question what value he adds. It’s not like it’s day one for him either, he hid behind… Read more »
When i see this kid play, i really get it why Unai said that Wilshere will have a very limited playing time
Steve Bould has never been good at organising defences. Just look at the amount of goals we shipped when he was age group coach.
To keep clean sheets we need lichtsteiner as rb Sokratis cb & torreira or el neny as cdm
“We look like a mid-table team. No better than West Ham.”
That’s BS , we just beat West Ham and had twice the number of shots on target.
Disgusting media is still trying to make the game look like Arsenal has just lost and that’s pathetic , last year if we had begun a game like we did against West Ham we would have lost , but this year we didn’t and that means team is improving.
The scoreline flattered to deceive. I think most reasonable Arsenal fans would agree that West Ham very easily could have won that game, especially if The Shoulder Dislocator hadn’t gone off injured. We got off seriously lucky… but, with the 3 points we DID yet, I hope the team builds on the win and goes in the to Cardiff and Newcastle games with mosre confidence and motivation.
For sure i thought some of the youth are ready to join 1st team.
Maybe he is really giving those here a chance to show him what they can do, and they need to play well even if he does not want them, because it helps them to get a better deal moving on. They know that next summer or even January? there may be additions and leavings.
Yours is definitely one of the submissions I look forward to reading.
Fucking interlulls.
Normally I’d agree but this season the more time Emery has with the team to work on the training pitch the better even if we’re missing a few senior players.
Have arseblog trademarked the term interlull? I hear it nowhere else but think it’s awesome and potentially profitable
Hard to imagine what this “rift’ would be about. Some people in media trying to sow seeds of discontent again? We have good and necessary competition through the squad in most areas. We are going to need everyone. We saw how Welbeck came on and did the business. Its not a forgone conclusion that Aubameyang will be world class and golden boot winner. We don’t know what kind of injuries will/may hit us. We already see most of our options in play at Lback so even the limited Elneny may be called upon should he not (likely) find a buyer… Read more »
I like this kid but he still has to learn positioning (as should most of our defenders). We controlled the West Ham game better when Lucas came on until late in the half. He doesn’t still have the ability to control the game in midfield like Xhaka which is why he got subbed and not Granit. I hope this kid could do a Cesc and grow into a midfielder that could control the game. We’re struggling in the league and outside in the last few years due to the absence of a midfielder who is authoritative and can control the… Read more »
Fully agreed. We just need that someone who can receive the ball, turn and take it forward a couple of meters. Just to beat the opponent’s press.
Currently it always feels like our midfield is miles away from the backline and forwards and thus easily played through or over.
we had a player just like, but he plays for west ham now
We used to have this player and he was actually on the field. Too bad he was on the opposing team.
Jack did not have a good game. I like the guy, but it wasn’t working out and he will get more playing time somewhere else, though unless he steps it up it may not be at West Ham.
I would agree but that’s the old jack. I watched him closely last season, that spring in his step to drive away from opposing players wasn’t there. Alot of time he would just turn into trouble and get angry losing the ball. Sadly it really looked like his injuries really did something to him physically.
Xhaka control the midfield? I’m not sure what game you have been watching, but xhaka control and midfield doesn’t fit in the same sentence, I would start this kid over Xhaka any day, him and Torreira might be a good partnership only time would tell
I miss one thing about Cesc – the pirouette he would do when pressed, making the opponent run an outside circle ‘the long way round’.
I really miss when we had a few possession maestros in Cesc, Hleb, Rosicky. We were certainly not top of the challenger list, and spent most of our time back and forth outside the box, but we could sure use a technique player or three like that now.
Oh, Santi. I hope all is well with you.
Maybe wise if you play a straight bat son. None of this maybe we showed people crap… no-one could give a shit about what we’re doing so far. Was talking to my Liverpool bro-in-law today and Arsenal didn’t even cross his mind when we were talking weekends results. How the tables have turned. Work to do.
Oh fuck me my life was already mediocre, now you’re telling me theres Interlull coming?
Make it stop!! :'(
I mean seriously, actually literally make it stop!
I find it funny that when Ozil misses a game due to illness or injury, he is proclaimed as having either chosen what games he wants to play or that he is faking. Now a story about Ozil having a showdown with Emery is what people are believing in? It took Ozil 2 years to have an issue with Mourinho at Madrid and Emery’s time with Neymar was so bad, these two have the ideal experiences to get along easily. Ozil has played more games than Ramsey since he arrived at our beloved club, why hasn’t anyone accused Ramsey of… Read more »
Well, I think it’s because Ozil missing really random games, and often when he’s under pressure. I honestly think some of his sicknesses were basically ‘tired and needs a rest’, but he would get too much criticism if they said it outright.
And a great professional club like Arsenal would accept that kind of behaviour? How? He’s got a contract and he must apply to it, simply. The “he does what he wants” thing is b*****. Or you don’t have a high image of your beloved club.
Easy to forget..If someone must get a chance it must be laccazette.he is ambitious,has a physical presence,an eye for goal and always ready to fight.if emery want Auba on pitch always,then he must adopt the 442 system.for me torreira and guodenzi are average players compared to someone like jorginho,wilfred ndidi and midfield marshals.i suspect a struggling season for arsenal
It really does seem that the media are trying their absolute hardest to ruin the optimism around this new-look Arsenal. Please don’t fall for any of this b*llocks!
First, it was irrelevant Z-list pundits scrambling to moan bout Emery after 2 tough games and now we’re meant to believe ONE Brazilian journalist about a bust-up between Ozil & Emery without ANY corroborative sources or quotes.
Meanwhile, Lloris has actually been arrested and charged for drinking driving but yet we haven’t heard a peep from the media…
Id play Torriera at the base of midfield with Xhaka slightly further forward. I d also play a 3-5-2 formation with Lichtensteiner/Socrates/Monreal at the back which i think much more suits this group of players