David Luiz’s first goal for Arsenal gave the Gunners a 1-0 win over a poor Bournemouth side at the Emirates this afternoon. The Brazilian headed home a Nicolas Pepe corner, but after that Unai Emery’s side found it hard to create chances.
Nevertheless, despite another worryingly ineffective performance, the three points and a clean sheet see us sitting in third place going into the Interlull.
Read the Arsenal 1-0 Bournemouth report and see the goal here.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon. Please note: We still have to get some updated images and numbers for some of the squad, but we’ll sort that out soon.
Ratings
The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, give the ratings a few seconds to load.
I thought Pepe was actually awful. Good corner though.
Before Christmas we’ll be crying over the money we wasted on him. I already do. He’s not technically good enough and at his age is too late, what we see is what we got. No wonder there was no bidding war for him. Willock and Saka look closer to finished article than Pepe, and they are younger. What a rip off!
I remember people, like yourself actually, moaning about Bergkamp and Henry early in their Arsenal careers… So you know, slow-down sunshine.
I get it too, we need to be patient. But you can’t fault people for being disappointed. We didn’t pay 80m for Bergkamp or Henry, and when you pay that much, at least you expect an instant impact. The waiting game is for 10m players not 80m ones.
10M isn’t quite the same as 80M in todays money, but considering most players didn’t go for that 10m back then it’s not as huge of a difference as you’re making it out to be.
does inflation and time value for money ring any bell?
Until you’ve moved to a new country – and culture; had to learn a new language; live in a completely new environment; adjust to a new set of expectations and system of play – do not judge. His price reflected his performance where he was, based on what he had achieved. He is now here – `nx as have to believe that class will out… but what he doesn’t need is armchair experts passing sweeping judgements from the vacuum of zero equivalent experience. Sorry if that’s a little harsh – but settling in requires support, not criticism. Give the lad… Read more »
Piers was terrible for the first 6 odd months. Then a goal at Old Trafford against the spuds and bang, he was off. Even Sol took a fair amount of time to really show what he could do with us. I.m not particularly enjoying Pepe ATM but I am by no means writing him off. Plenty of time for him to kick on
I wouldn’t even be calling for his head after 3 or 4 months, give him the entire season.
Price tag has nothing to do with football anymore.. Stop judging quality by price tag.. Makes no damn sense.. If we didn’t buy pepe, you guys are thesame people that will keep saying we didn’t splash the cash.. Jesus christ
Did anyone else see this article about inflation adjusted transfer fees?
https://www.totallymoney.com/content/transfer-index/data/#filters?/options?
According to this article Bergkamp’s fee adjusted for inflation would be £96m in today’s money
The world record at the time was Shearer for £15m right?
So half that must have a huge deal
Just had a butcher’s – bloody hell but we’ve done well out of Barca down the years!!
Ok but that’s a terrible comparison. Bergkamp and Henry were both known serious talents that, for one reason or another, came off bad seasons before coming good. I’m all for giving Pepe more time but comparing him to once in a generation talents is the wrong way to go about defending him!
Henry was seen as an average left winger in France and was most certainly NOT a ‘known serious talent’. Wenger moved him to CF and transformed his carreer.
An average left winger who won two Ligue 1 young player of the year awards, a Ligue 1 title and was in the 1998 world cup winning squad? Ok then.
The point is no one knew how good TH14 would end up being. Not even Wenger.
Is there a bigger English football tradition than fans writing off expensive imports from continental leagues before Christmas? So much scepticism in the English football mindset, yet people act baffled when young foreign talents like Gnabry and Bennacer have to leave the Premier League for their full talents to blossom.
I think Wenger did – see my comment above. Stood by him for 24 matches where he only got 2?? And remember he was replacing the ‘wunderkind’ Anelka… the press were all over him!
Yep – prodigious young talent but then he stalled. Only 20 goals in 105 matches for Monaco, before that poor season at Juve. And whilst he scored in the ’98 WC early rounds, he didn’t even play in the final. Fact is – Arsene gave him his senior debut and Arsene rescued him from what was becoming a 3 year downer in Europe. And Arsene stuck with him after he only scored twice in his first TWENTY FOUR matches for us (Pepe’s not even had a handful yet!). I was at the game against Nantes where he replaced Freddie with… Read more »
I wasn’t comparing him to Bergkamp and Henry. I was comparing the initial reaction amongst many supporters to all three players. Point being Pepe’s only just got here, give him a chance. Further, who’s to say he won’t become a ‘generational’ talent?
@Frank I agree Pepe needs time and people are being too rash on here. But by ‘generational’ talent, I mean someone of the pedigree of Henry and Bergkamp and I think that’s a lot to put on the kid.
I so hope you are right.
Nonsense. He was rated 5th best player in Europe last season and is showing gradual improvement. Do you remember that it took Henry and Bergkamp several matches before they showed their best form and some like Overmars took even longer. Actually there were several clubs after him and in a few weeks time you will realise how ridiculous your comment was
*In a few weeks time we all pray he realises how ridiculous his comment was.
The jury is out.
Lacazette took much longer to settle, and last January people were writing off Keita + Fabinho at Liverpool, which now looks foolish.
We’re not at panic stations yet, he’s shown flashes, but his work rate is disappointing.
If you put Pepe in Manchester City’s side or Liverpool’s, he’d have better numbers. Our offense is isolated, getting no service, etc. Settle down.
That’s a more reasonable argument than just comparing him to Henry and Pires!
What is so difficult to understand about comparing Pepe’s situation with the early months of Bergkamp/Henry/Pires?
Players moving here from a different league need time to settle, preferably a full season. It’s practically an Arsenal law.
Can you not read? Serious question.
At no point has Pepe been compared to Bergkamp or Henry. The comparison was about the time it took for them to reach their full potential and that, in order to see how good Pepe can be for us, we should be more patient.
Not sure why you’re rewriting the conversation.
They’re comparing the TIME taken to adjust, not the players, you muppet.
idiot
Just to clarify I didn’t mean he’s a awful player. Just that he was bad today. Jury still out on him, as it should be.
We need to give Pepe a chance. Xhaka had loads of chances to prove his worth, so Pepe deserves to have the same kind of patience.
i’m just curious to see if he’ll turn out more hazard or more gervinho
Gervinho, the man from Lille said it himself:
Mickael Foor is the club’s commentator on LOSCTV and has plenty of first-hand experiences of how the player makes things happen.
“In Lille, we had very good players. Eden Hazard stays on top of everyone, but I’ll put him on Gervinho’s level. I do not find him less strong than Lucas (Moura) from Tottenham Hotspur. But Pepe must confirm at the highest level, which he has not done yet.”
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2846689-chased-by-europes-elite-is-nicolas-pepe-really-worth-the-hype
I find it interesting that an “unproven” player keeps attracting two and three defenders as soon as he touches the ball. Defenses are giving him the star treatment. What Pepe needs to do is learn to give the ball up quickly and make a run toward goal. So far no team in the EPL is interested in letting him dance with the ball.
Hazard at Chelsea or Hazard at Real Madrid (where the jury is still out on him)?
Give him 6 months. Some players need time to adapt.
Pires, Bergkamp, and Henry started slow.
Pires took a whole season to come good and by and large he did alright after.
I thought he was ok, not spectacular but not terrible either.
He wasn’t awful at all. Showed a great deal of improvement and will soon be back to true form
Exactly, let’s not fall into the media’s narrative that he is a flop. He will come good. I know he is our most expensive player ever but weren’t Henry and Bergkamp when we bought them. I think the manager doesn’t help as he is pretty average to be honest. We have a very exciting team, we just need a coach who knows what to do with them. Klopp rarely changes his team’s same with Guardiola, we never start the same players two games in a row and we constantly change our formation, no wonder pepe is struggling.
Jury’s still out on him but the way this team is coached and plays, I think it’s hard for anyone to shine. We could have van Dijk at the back and Messi on the wing and we’d still be in the same position.
Let’s call a spade a spade. We over paid for him. Even if he got any better – and there is no guarantee – he is not an 80m player.
Let’s call a 72m player a 72m player.
Yeah yeah… love to see your equation for calculating what 80m ‘should’ buy?
Definitely not. More like a 72m player.
We’ll give him time of course, but currently he’s a liability. Confidence no doubt….
Good 3 points but makes fans nervous on the late part of second half.
Pepes dribbling ability is not normal. Its ridiculous how well he goes by people in tight spaces, his foot speed and agility.
The ability to beat a man at will like that is extremely rare! You don’t see it from normal winhers
Just seems to be completely overthinking everything at the moment because of the pressure and messing up the easy stuff and making the wrong decisions.
His problems are mental at the moment imo.
Anyway you can see from the corner that he does actually have good technique when hes in the zone.
He will come good.
Agreed. I’ve never been less worried by a signing to be honest. He has outrageous technical ability for a 6 foot tall winger. Once he learns the proper rhythm of attack/tracking back, and adds a little more muscle, he’ll be deadly.
Hector recovering his best form on the same flank will help him as well
A lot less pressure on Xhaka today, thanks to Pepe.. a fanbase to be proud of..
Well a win is a win but come on Emery. Willock and Torriera for Xhaka and Cebellos please!! Praying for a big lift when Hector and Tierney come in
A big lift would see us sitting in second, I’m hoping for a really big lift, move over Liverpool….
A lot of the fans have been saying this for ages. Why Emery never gives it a go is abit boggling. Xhaka and Guendouzi can’t play together it’s so obvious. Midfield is fucking disjointed with them both on the pitch.
They play too far apart
The team is crying out for Willock and Torreira to start…
Poor team performance but almost everyone gets a 7? Generous.
We did win, and 6 is kind of a baseline so when we keep a clean sheet, taking 3 points etc, it’s got to be a bit better than average. Although I completely agree the team performance was worryingly ineffective again.
This must be one of those cases where numbers really can’t reflect a solid difference between quality and mediocrity.
Calm down, ya old nana.
So if we were inneffective and won with 14 corners and our best high press of the season, what were Bournemouth?
I think most of you would be suicidal if ya had to support a lesser team… Its sad.
I’m suicidal half the time now. I saw that only partially tongue in cheek.
A lesser team wouldn’t have as high expectations, or wage bill, or ticket prices etc.
I was just thinking that no one except for xhaka of course was really bad but somehow the team performance managed to be terrible.
Strange one that.
Why was Xhaka bad? He had a competent match and no worse than any player.
Do you watch him off the ball?
Several times he was skipped past as if he wasnt there even falling over outright at one point. Imagine having an agile midfielder there instead.
HE also offered nothing in possession except for misplacing a pass in a promising attack.
Oh not to mention all the pointless fouling
Our attacking game was below par today, fair enough but Xhaka, a deep lying midfielder can’t be held the sole responsible for not creating chances or taking shots.
I watch him out of possession and see the ease which the opposition skip past him, I see his fouls.
How about the time he was defending a cutback and he just froze in the box 5m away from his man and didnt close him down? Almost cost us a goal.
He also offered nothing as a playmaker
Hugely encouraging to see the defenders NOT contrive a penalty when Callum Wilson squeezed in behind them. And look it paid off! The striker dosent always score once he’s past you.
Chambers deserves a better rating than Sok. Best player on the day for me
Agree, he was the only player worth watching in the second half…makes you wonder how good he would be in the central areas..if we are going to be defensive EMERY!! why not play a purely defensive holding player in midfield, let the progresing, covering, switching and creating to Guendouzi and Willock/Ceballos
Would be interesting to see. He’d play the ball a lot quicker than Xhaka. Can’t see Emery ever trying it unfortunately
Thought there was some improvement in the first half – few quick breaks where the offense looked cohesive & defense did nice job of pressing. Saka looks increasingly comfortable on the left wing – Pepe looked better. Not sure what we’re going to due when Lacazette comes back as we really shouldn’t move Auba back wide with the form he’s in. Feels like some of the complaining on here is getting out of hand however particularly as it relates to Xhaka & Ozil. 1. Midfield looks much better without Xhaka but he’s captain & he’s an automatic starter under Emery… Read more »
Ozil though creative is NOT industrious…lazy. ie how he’s been in all teams he’s played for.The team would & win and thrive with Ozil when it has a solid and hardworking midfield to do all the dirty work, give the much- neede cover to our not too strong defence .In modern soccer across Engkand ,Spain, & the rest of Europe players, irrespective of your position, when your team loses a ball, lwhether you did or not always try to recover it.But that is not Ozil for you. Playing him is almost like playing 10 against 11 even though I admire… Read more »
Annoyed. Not surprised, annoyed.
Please quit with the false dilemmas: either we support Özil or we support Arsenal. To hell with that. I want to see Arsenal succeed with Özil helping us play the beautiful football that we used to be inspired by and helping us have a more efficient, flowing attack. If you watched this game and aren’t concerned about our ability to get the ball to the attack, then I don’t know that to tell you. A 1-0 home performance against Bournemouth, clinging for dear life to a slim lead because we’ve lost confidence in the second half? Alarm bells ringing and… Read more »
Ozil has been very inconsistent for several years now = increasingly the reality of Ozil doesn’t match up with many fans’ idea of him. Many remember the great pass here or there and choose to forget that every match he’s a 8 or 9 is accompanied by 5 or 6 where he’s totally anonymous. Add in that no modern top team plays with a true number 10 anymore either = Wenger really was the last one to do it. At some point fans need to recognize Ozil’s Arsenal career is pretty much over rather than constantly complaining when he isn’t… Read more »
I think I’ve read this before.
Meanwhile, when did our first captain hit the ratio of one excellent game per five played in recent times?
We know your handwriting Unai… You can’t fool us!!
So you don’t feel we should complain when Emery persists in playing a certain player in a key position when, by any measure, it has become clear that the team functions better without him? When that player persists in giving away petulant, irresponsible fouls that repeatedly rob us of momentum? When his stream of bookings put the entire team under pressure game after game, not to mention setting a poor example for a team he is ‘notionally’ captain of? When his carthorse speed and dexterity are clearly limiting not only him, but our entire transitional play? That moment today –… Read more »
Some perspective lads….
What we HAD: https://www.planetfootball.com/videos/watch-santi-cazorla-gives-arsenal-fans-deja-vu-with-villarreal-screamer/
What we HAVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XdAy8G8izQ
3 in his last 3; 4 in 7 so far this seaon… come back Santi, oh please come back!
This is about patching up the disjointed attacking flair and creativity for the front three. Poor Aubameyang was starving without being fed. Up until now nobody in midfield is proven realiable to crack open the defence. Our style of game is scrappily boring. We are losing our philosophy of free flowing attacking football that earned the Club millions of fans all over the world. Is the current style of play of Unai Emery is really the way forward. Shame on us. There is no room for personal bickering or constructive dismissal from the manager against one of the proven most… Read more »
IF the team was winning in style or we see progress, there won’t be many calling for Ozil.
However, we are labouring for points against second tier teams, are over reliant on the brilliance of one striker that is unsustainable, and a dysfunctional midfield crying out for some creativity.
Our problem is mobility and pressing in midfield. Too many times our midfield is completely passed through by the other team as if not there. This stops us from being able to get counter attacks and to pressure the other team into mistakes. A lot of the cause of this is lacking fullbacks and of course Xhaka’s lack of tracking or mobility. Now with all our struggles, imagine bringing in Ozil who is even less mobile and even less likely to track back, or to pressure opposition or lead the team or even demand the ball like Guendouzi does to… Read more »
I could take issue with each of your points, but not a single one of them or all of them taken together constitutes any valid reason to leave Ozil out of the squad entirely. There’s obviously something personal going on.
So we can now add another sin to Xhaka’s list – we can’t afford two ‘lazy’ players so Ozil gets sacrificed due to Emery’s love affair with Granit… I’d rather have 10 mins of Mesut magic than 90 of Xhaka Can’t.
Ozil isn’t playing bc he doesn’t deserve to based on his performances when he’s been given opportunities.
It seems to me that Atkinson is sworn enemy of gunners! I give him lifetime zero.
He is the least likely referee to give a free kick, but I think this works both ways. I don’t think you can fault him for the penalty he gave Spurs against us.
I was getting a bit annoyed with the ref in 2nd half too, he could have given us a fair bit more…and that supposed advantage he played, just wow. But I also realised my frustration with him was actually just a manifestation of my frustration with the Arsenal performance. If we were tonking them and 3-0 up I probably couldn.t have cared less about the ref.
Thought there was some improvement in the first half – few quick breaks where the offense looked cohesive & defense did nice job of pressing. Saka looks increasingly comfortable on the left wing – Pepe looked better. Not sure what we’re going to due when Lacazette comes back as we really shouldn’t move Auba back wide with the form he’s in. Feels like some of the complaining on here is getting out of hand however particularly as it relates to Xhaka & Ozil. 1. Midfield looks much better without Xhaka but he’s captain & he’s an automatic starter under Emery… Read more »
Like deja vu all over again……
And here I thought I’d read this before, before this comment — I must be in a loop …!
3-4 of the regular starters last season no Laca, obvious transformation phase, youngsters starting yet almost every “fan” is whining
And we currently sit in third, a single point behind 2nd place City.
Sure, the performances have lacked the flair I long for, but we’re not in a bad spot considering those performances.
We figure out the midfield balance and get the team chemistry back with a few of these younger players and there might be a positive looking future ahead.
Sure, I question some of Emery’s decisions, but it was always going to be a big job rebuilding the squad.
Play Toreria and Willock instead of Xhaka and Ceballos and you are going in the right direction chemistry wise
So true
It takes effort to find positives or see things in context, which is why you should find the responses to this win as predictable as if we had lost. I get that the performance in the second half was poor, but I take a lot of heart in what I saw in that first half, and I think we’re going to improve over the course of this season (and if we do, you can be sure (again predictably, given our fans) Emery will get zero credit).
We desperately need Laca back. And a creative number 10. If only we had one.
Emery has turned us into molasses.
And destroyed our midfield.
We are so boring. He’s sucked the joy out of this club.
Lacazette coming back means that Auba gets pushed out to the wing again however- not sure in this form that we really want to do that.
If we’re going to refuse to play Ozil, I’d try Lacazette in the pocket behind Auba. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a go and see how it turns out. Laca is going to find his way into the box regardless of where he starts out on the pitch.
Oh yes…there is someone in cold storage mind you. He’s been there for drawing a large sum of wages which the Club agreed in the first place and for speaking up against Emery’s tactics I suppose.
Where would Ozil have gotten us today? Honestly, get off his dick man.
We don’t know where he’d have
got us today because he’s never
picked.
Selection is based on performance
according to UE. Based on what
we’ve seen in midfield this season
that is simply bollocks.
On the basis of the last season and a half, pretty much nowhere but he’d have done very stylishly. Which seems to be enough for many……,
If I am not mistaken, we have a creative number 10. He wears number 10 too..obviously..
Destroyed our midfield.
Oh my word.
Try to look beyond the lazy Xhaka narrative, and perhaps at the ages and development of the future of our midfield with the likes of Guendouzi and Willock. There will be growing pains.
It doesn’t matter if Özil plays, Emery’s ‘tactics’ make him look bad anyways. He just doesn’t recieve the ball and therefore can’t control the midfield. All our play is through the flanks so I hope we will look better when tierney and bellerin come back. Also why do I see 5 players in the opposition’s box when we are winning by 4goals in thursday and then when it’s 1-0 I see Aubameyang in our own half in the beginning of an attack and barely anyone gets into the box when we have the ball?!
And if Ozil starts looking good in a game, Emery substitutes him.
You could see Pepe was linking up well and needed to play more to gain confidence shame he was hooked early.
Almost had a goal from the shot, nearly got a pen and gave an assist.
Would not blame him as our setup made Aubameyang look like David Nuget, and Pepe is in a new league and team.
He’s adjusting, and the rest of the team is adjusting to all the new players. And once we get Hector back, Inthink those right side combinations will get even better.
That said, Chambers has looked better than I expected out there, a good solid backup for that role. It will be interesting when Hector is back full speed to see if CC has earned some time in the middle with his performances.
I hope so, its great for bellerin to return without heavy pressure, and it can only be good for arsenal if he performs
I don’t agree Martinelli deserved to start in front of Pepe. I don’t respect manager decisions like that. If you play well you deserve to play.
I only liked the comment because “David Nuget” made me laugh
Very impressed by Chambers today, extremely solid at the back. Made quite a few vital tackles/clearances right in front of our net, and some more big tackles throughout the game. You can tell he has gotten his confidence back while playing, especially looking at those two attempted skewed volleys he had 🙂
I wish to be proven wrong but a big reason why we’re so dysfunctional in midfield is Xhaka. He’s a nice chap but he’s not going to suddenly become faster and less ponderous.
Well said bruv
I have a funny feeling that Xhaka will be a regular PL benchwarmer by the end of the season.
i have a funny feeling you are wrong.
and im sad im pretty sure im right
Once again the lazy, petulant fouls that stall our momentum and invite pressure from average sides.
Once again the lack of energy and inability to track back once dispossessed. The moment today when he tried to chase back, arrived behind the play – tried to switch marking and fell over his own feet made me
actually feel sad for him, seeing him so obviously out of his depth.
Noticed that too, sad.
I don’t think Xhaka alone is the problem. Emery put 3 CMs with no chemistry. I think only one of Caballos Douzi and Xhaka should play in the CM. Torreira (Chambers as back up) for CDM. Willock should be playing ahead of them.
I thought Chambers was our best player today. Solid going forward and at the back. Definitely more than a 7.
We’re making slow improvements but at least we got a win. Get Willock in from the start please!!
He was good going forward but ha was roasted defensively second half. He obviously doesn’t belong on that side of the pitch
It’s frustrating to see Chambers as one of our best players, when he’s really not suited for the job he’s being asked to do. But he’s industrious and is willing to try things, tracks back immediately when we lose possession. How badly this team is set up and the only one who can’t see that is our manager. I really want him gone.
His interceptions all over the pitch spoke of intelligence and authority. His calmness when passing was really good. His aerial ability has been welcome. He’s had this since begining of the season. He may not be a fullback but if he gets an extra whip on his crosses he can be lethal. Curious to see him play DM as well. Absolutely loving his performances. Definitely kicked up a gear in comparison to two seasons ago.
Chambers at right back also gives us some size against a team that often long balls us to death.
I thought Bournemouth did us a favor in the 1st half by trying to play out from the back.
I also thought we were lucky they didn’t start Ryan Fraser. He’s the kind of fast, tricky winger who gives Chambers a torrid time at fullback.
6.5 for Pepe seems a bit generous. His first touch and close control in general were very poor, a lot of his passing was off too. I’d start to feel just a touch concerned. But credit where it’s due, he did put himself about and wasn’t looking to hide.
I’m cautious in criticising Pepe, Lacazette also had big problems during his first season. But Pepe is struggling, his work rate off the ball, and his willingness to get back after losing it is poor, to get the fans on board isn’t difficult, you just need to bust a gut to win it back. We controlled the game well in the first half, but lost a bit of the control in the second half, but there’s a lot of weird results around, the chasing pack have closed the gap, and I really couldn’t care any less about the performances, as… Read more »
I don’t like the way we look either, and am confused by some of the managers tactics, but could not agree more with absolving the sins, so to speak, when we pull off a win. Will it ever be easy with Emery? Highly, highly, doubt it, but after the break we should have everyone available. That is the time we should start to go on a good run, if it is going to be in us. First team that gets hot will have a real leg up to third place.
Sooner Emery goes the better. Turgid. We are in 3rd place mind you so there is that.
The sooner knee jerk fans become less toxic the better it will be. One loss in 11 matches with 7 wins and 3rd in the table. Go and support Spurs then you really can moan with justification
You have to admit, though…maybe to some fans this feels all too familiar. Like last year. Grinding out unconvincing results against lesser opposition…conservative, passive, boring football…and we all know the bottom fell out eventually. You can’t blame fans for taking the larger view that, despite a welcome 1-0 win, Arsenal don’t look any better than last year, they just don’t. We will have injuries again, etc, we can’t keep *barely* getting through these games. This was a fixture we should have dominated like Chelsea did with Saints today.
And we played better last season and had 18 points after 8 matches. So far we haven’t battered a single opponent, it’s all been draws and one nil to the Arsenal, but without the perfection of George Graham. It could actually get worse this season, but Bellerin, Tierney, Holding, and Laca returning gives me some faith we will improve before we get worse. Emery isn’t cut out to manage Arsenal, he’s too pragmatic and conservative. Someone like Erik Ten Hag would be perfect for us.
I think you need to watch our matches again. The football is boring shite and, let’s be realistic, we won’t hold 3rd like this. There’s no joy in this guy’s football. Holding on for dear life at home with a 1-0 lead. No service at all to auba. Constantly playing Xhaka when he needs to be dropped and adds nothing. Losinf “confidence” in the second half… Fuck off emery, it is your job to not let that happen. Wtf did he say in the dressing room at half time I wonder?
Are we in transition, waiting on key players to return and form to take hold, will improve and are doing fabulously to preserve our table position while evolving? Or are we flattering to deceive, playing less than the sum of our parts due to Emery or whatever, barely scraping points against teams we should handle easily given our talent level, and destined to settle back into the 5-6 spot? We may end up 4th due to MU and Spurs struggles, but I don’t have faith in Emery at all and LC looks legit under Rodgers. Emery seems the accidental manager… Read more »
Crystal Palace look pretty dangerous as well right now, along with West Ham. The way we’re playing, we could easily drop points when we play them.
Emery needs to start using social media..maybe he didn’t realize that and nobody is telling him that..
Actually, he has a Twitter account, and it’s embarrassing the kind of abuse he receives there.
Blogs, can we have just one submit button rather than having to submit everytime! It feels a bit pedantic.
I dunno, I kind of like going along and comparing each rating to blogs and the average one by one
David Luiz scores the only goal, his defense keeps a clean sheet. Think that deserves more than a 7? We’re all finding it hard to adjust to having to like him aren’t we?
Haha, that’s a fair comment!
His defending was hairy in more than a couple occasions. Glad to see him grab a goal for us, though!
We still don’t have any partnerships on the pitch. Someone has to want the ball, and someone has to run. But most of the time, we have 3 people wanting the ball, or all running away from it.
To be fair to Emery, barring 3or 4 players, everyone is playing in a new position. Sokratis is on as right CB, and even Auba is playing as pure CF, when he played most of last season as left winger cum striker
It says a lot how dissillusioned the manager is. The man with no clue what he is doing.
Not as dire as at Man United (how could it be?). Chambers and Kolasinac both good, Guendouzi a lot of energy, Aubameyang made a lot of good runs in the first half but must have gotten tired of the futility. Not worth arguing about Ozil anymore–if you don’t think this side would have been better with him playing, I will not be able to convince you.
Against Bournemouth at home, there’s no way you can convince me Ozil wouldn’t have produced 2-3 telling balls for Auba to work with. Sit Ceballos and Guendouzi or Willock behind Ozil. Please.
It’s fun to think shoulda coulda woulda, isn’t it Greg?
” the team he’s playing in produces dull, barely functional football.” from Auba’s rating. I can see when the negativity is coming from Blogs? We are third with a new defence coming in shortly don’t you know?
a “new defense” is not going to inject a Xhaka/Guendouzi midfield base with dynamism, defensive stability, speed, quality transitioning, etc. every single game without fail that those two start together, we look like shit. bellerin and tierney aren’t going to change that.
Blah blah blah I wanna be managahh!
A narrow win against the very poor Bournemouth side at the Emirates. Cheers, Emery and good ebening.
Bring back Mesut Ozil!
Yes, the dressing rooms need a lick of paint.
Don’t worry, Clockendrider. They will call you to suck it up when the toilets are clogged.
I always expected the first 8 league games were going to be tough for us. I believe our 3 best defenders are Holding, Tierney and Bellerin, so I was hoping we could just hang in there and get decent results until mid-October or so, given the defenders out, Pepe and Ceballos needing to adjust, and then Lacazette getting injured. We’ve survived the tough start pretty well, better than I expected actually, just one point behind City. Now when we come back from this Interlull, we need to be better. We need our best defenders in the lineup for every important… Read more »
At last the voice of reason!
Man U’s squad is garbage without a near-term solution and Spurs look like a team that have completely stagnated. But honestly Chelsea under Lampard and LC under Rodgers both look more energized and cohesive than we do, despite our talent advantage. I still see a torturous period ahead.
It doesn’t seem easy to get away from Chelsea. But I see us increasing the gap between us and Spurs and Man U by Christmas
Agree with everything if this was last season. But our football isn’t getting any better, so the results we get feels like our winning run and solskjaer’s winning run last season. On the plus side, I can’t see us playing any worse so maybe the only way is up now.
Lol
Win is a win. But this is not pleasant to watch.
Emery still needs to go. He’s turning us into a mid table team. Being 3rd is great but it’s way too early to look aT place when 2-6 is separated by 4 pts. 7-10 are not that far off.
How is tierney one of our top defenders when he hasn’t played league yet?
Tough schedule? You seriously think this has been tough?
What signs do you see in improvement coming?
Once again, after Suarez last season, our second Spanish loanee in a row is breathtaking! Totally deserving to be selected by our Span… sorry… our coach ahead of Özil. Totally deserves his standing ovations, his £15M a year cost and his song!
I thought that Ceballos had a decent game, unlike the completely anonymous Xhaka behind him. Also, I’m pretty sure that he didn’t cost us 15 mil, more like 4 mil.
I’m done with this site now. Constant negativity is just tedious. We won. We’re third. We’re building and have some exceptional youngsters getting minutes. I used to come here for reasoned opinions (or as close as you can get with football fans these days) but that seems to have gone out the window. Ill find somewhere else to get my arsenal fix. Thanks for the memories.
Bye
I agree objectivity and rationality has left this site, I’ve drawn the conclusion that Arsenal fans just like being miserable
Played 11
Won 7
Lost 1
Scored 25
Conceded 11
Sitting in 3rd place
With young players being given opportunities, and 3/4 of our first choice defence yet to play a minute of PL football.
If Arsenal don’t win 3 or 4 to 0, then the comments here will be filled with whining. That’s just how it is now.
Gets really tiresome. It’s been going on for 7 or 8 years now, with 2 different managers to whine about, and dozens of different players to personally attack.
Some people have made angry post after post demanding the sacking of the Arsenal manager for most of the past decade. It’s like they are stuck in that mode permanently. The constant hyperbole and noise starts to obscure any valid points they may have.
Hive mind meatheads
Played: 11 Looked Mostly Like Shit: 8 (every PL game) Gotten Away With It: 6 Turgid, Lifeless, Clueless Midfield: 8 (every PL game) Riding Our Luck: 9 Should’ve Probably Lost: 4 Let Last Place Team Take 31 Shots and Come Back From 0-2: 1 Xhaka and Guendouzi Proving to Be Useful Together: 0 Xhaka Slowing Us Down and Being Generally Useless: 8 (every PL game) Feels Suspiciously Like Last Year, Which Didn’t End Well At All: 9 World Class Creative Midfielder Who Could Service Our Isolated Attackers in Starting Line Up: 1 I mean, you are short sighted if you… Read more »
Agree. Group stage in the Europa league is such a low bar we play out b team, for the most part. Prem our goal difference is atrocious. Our team looks disjointed. The only person who scores in the prem is auba, except on rare occasions. Our midfield was dominated by Watford and bourmouth in the second half. And finally, we just don’t look very good. Our football is ponderous.
You stats are padded with games in second rate cups, in the PL we only have a +2 goal difference and I have yet to see anything approaching a coherent, controlled performance. I would almost rather that we put in a good performance and lose, which is bad luck, than put in a shit performance and win, which is good luck. But I always want us to win. That said, nothing about our PL form gives me confidence
lol
Yeah please forget about League cup and Europa league. You can’t be serious we’ve played anyone? Take those padded stats out and it’s ugly. 13-11 smh
Well actually we beat Frankfurt at their stadium, the first English team to do this in their history.
Bang on, even James from Gunnerblog seems over it to an extent, I feel he reflects a this frustration when speaking with blogs, who resembles the many moraninc moaners just a tad, sometimes a massive annoying amount too.
It’s hard for some to accept that Arsenal is no longer playing the same way Arsenal was famous for.
I suggest you to try the Arsenal official site. Everything is rosy over there. Here you get real fans opinions.
Fans who criticize these games want to fucking enjoy the football they are watching. If all you care about is results, then just read the paper every weekend, you don’t have to watch. Because you’re either lying or clueless about the game if you are saying this has been enjoyable for you.
For fans who love the game, being able to enjoy the football in addition to the result is crucial. If all you see are the results, one could be forgiven for questioning your understanding of the game or why you even watch.
Run
Danny I’d give it a week or two before parachuting. There are a lot of people thinking the same thing about the wannabe managers and self appointed critics on here.
I’m close. It is getting very tedious and every single time I see the start of a potentially interesting discussion, or someone makes a point worthy of debate, it is hijacked by arseholes.
I don’t know if they are just kids, Spurs fans or cretins but fuck it is getting boring round here.
Then bye. Arsenal not playing like a big team. Hence they are getting f…ed in the ar…e by a equal teams and seem unconvincing playing mid table or worse. Winning is just by getting lucky. I hope luck continues or Arsenal aproach (read Emery) changes. Otherwise I feel soon players will start considering their prospects in this team (like: “oh I don’t feel joy playng for this team”) or having difficulties joining team (oh they play such pussy tactics, i might wait for toteshit offer at least they try…”. Simply NO, NO, NO!!! It’s nor Arsenal way of playing football.… Read more »
Yawn… Have something original to say or shut it.
I would take another 30 wins like that to be fair. But sadly football doesn’t work that way
Gotta love seeing Guendouzi shouting down his teammates for standing around while he’s working so hard to press the opposition. It’s refreshing that one of the youngest players on the pitch is vocal and takes a leadership role.
An actual captain playing alongside our supposed captain…
I thought that Guendouzi had an excellent game today, he was everywhere. For me, him and Chambers were the best players on the pitch.
Spot. On.
Little sloppy with his passing though – I feel that he wants every pass to be the killer pass and sometimes tries to force that… happened on at least 3-4 occasions today. That – and his wont to go down and look for the free kick after a robust tackle are the only things he really need to work on… other than that, he’s a proper talent and seems to have the true Arsenal grit of old
Now there is a simple constructive positive comment kids, it’s not that hard see!
He is awesome. To think we will have both him and Tierney playing in the same side next game out, both pushing forward and making things happen.
He’s the real leader on the pitch.
3rd place and playing nowhere near our potential.
Credit where it’s due, Emery is an expert at draining the fun out of football matches.
3 points. We bumble on.
Oh ok third is not good enough unless we have fun yeah? I have no words for the 19 thumb uppers.
We are lucky to be in third. You’re deluded if you think otherwise.
But we are third and it makes me happy. Choosing happiness over sadness works for me. x
So, deluded it is then.
So Arsenal has had some good luck this season, and therefore we should be… angry? Complaining, venting, disgusted, outraged? I get mad when we have bad luck, so we should be angry then too.
So I guess that means that no matter what happens, we should be angry! ANGRY!!
Erm – make that 25 and counting…
Look at the goal diff of the two teams above us? Scary gulf in attacking efficiency there for all to see – it is great that Manure, Chelsk and Spuds have had shocking starts, but that does NOT make us top flight. We are scraping by and this in matches which should be the bankers on our fixture list.
By all means enjoy 3rd place – but keep a sense of reality!
I certainly think Saka deserves a higher than 6.5 rating. His work rate, ability to hold and keep the ball and also his willingness to track back and help out to defend.
On the other hand , a 6 seems generous for Xhaka.
How many times must he goes on to make those needless fouls again and again. Its just a matter of times that he’ll get 2 yellows and sent off in one of those matches.
Willock is already showing his worth to the current time. Let Willock or Torreira start in place of Xhaka
Xhaka gets bonus 0.5 rating for the armband. And not conceding a penalty.
I think playing Xhaka every week is all part of Dick’s master plan. He knows Xhaka is a walking yellow/red. He’ll soon be banned. Someone else comes in and then Xhaka has to displace that player. I can’t see Torreira or Willock being as shit as Xhaka. Problem solved.
You’re welcome.
This is unfair on Chambers. The lad is not a full back. He really struggled defensively
I thought he was rather good defensively, an upgrade on AMN, and he came from Southampton as a RB.
I’d still like him in the #6 slot, if not next to Holding in the back. He’s first 11 for me.
I’m not sure are we watching the same match, but i genuinely think that Chambers is the MOTM despite playing out of position
We are difficult to like under emery
Sp*rs would be difficult to like under a combination of Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman and Pope Francis. All a matter of perspective.
‘Scored his first Arsenal goal, turned out to be the winner.’
I love you, blogs…but as someone who didn’t watch the game – i’d love a bit more analysis than this..
There’s always the match report. Why don’t you give that one a try?
Thanks for the heads up..
Was just an opinion.
This comment section, I believe, is for comments regarding the ratings of players performance during the game. So not sure why you’d even comment if you haven’t seen the game let alone even know who bloody scored. Your opinion is invalid.
We should start Pepe on the bench for a few games. Think he could gain some confidence against tired defenders.
Workmanlike performance, just not good enough.
You lot aren’t fans you are just critics.
Vivianne for the Arsenal ladies plays far much better
Now that is patently ridiculous.
Am I the only one who thinks Saka was bad?
Yes.
Pepe certainly deserves time to adapt and may be good to bring him off the bench next match when he can come in for 20 minutes or so and make an impact that way and then let him start the Europa League match when there isn’t as much pressure. Seems to be pushing too hard right now and certainly is feeling the pressure of the contract. Don’t recall often seeing all of the player ratings within .5 of each other (6.5 to 7), but emblematic of the match itself, really pretty ho hum. We had 9 corner kicks in the… Read more »
David Luiz looks like Willie Young on these ratings.
Is it wierd that i look forward to cup and Europa league games more than league games?
same
Arsenal are going backwards. Where has the beautiful football gone that only an Arsenal team could pull off. Emery has evolved this team into a ‘try to win at all cost’ mentality and because of that the players are too scared to do anything wrong. They play with low confidence and follow Emery’s orders to the tee. Of the four leading goalscorers in the PL, Aubamayang has the least shots at goal by far. This tells you that the Arsenal do not create chances. What happened to the best attacking front three in the PL. The problem is that they… Read more »
I would take 3 points and a clean sheet anytime.
After winning some trophy, we can then start to play beautiful and win at the same time
Its Emery master plan to go back to CL using the Europa league route
Just like last year.
Just got home from the game and was wondering if the game looked as bad on TV as it did from the stands. From the ratings and comments I guess it was
Arseblog you’ve become quite the negative Nancy. There’s not a lot of hope or positives you seem to take from the game.
Well I thought Pepe looked better, not great but definitely gaining confidence. 1st half was great as a team against a very good and in form Bournemouth (not sure what blogs is on about). I saw a lot of improvements today as a team off the ball, stay positive, the lineup will change.
Have we ever been so high up the table playing so bad???….literally our gameplan is…
with the ball: don’t loose it!!…
without the ball: all units to panicstations!!!
Go support man utd grumpy jokes of a fan base, honestly I’m sick of the repetitive analysis from all most of you, it’s actually pointless, whereas the result wasn’t. What’s wrong with a workmanlike home win over an in form premiership side, it was solid. Im happy to take it and move on, as life does, as ozil will, as did our wenger ball while wenger was still here, so don’t start blaming emery, he’s not wenger, he’s emery, just so that’s clear. I can’t even be bothered elaborating, figure it out ya whinging nanas.
I’ll tell you what is wrong with it…it is DANGEROUS!!!! you let teams on to you long enough, they grow in confidence and momentum!! think of it like runing away in fear from a ferocious dog, making yourself very small, your dead!! like us if we keep this up
Chambers our best player today by absolute miles. Blog’s score (7) very mean really.
Bellerin, Chambers, Luis/Sokratis, Tierney back line will transform the midfield ahead of it.
Apart from Granit, I’m afraid.
I thought Chambers was excellent.
Horrible. 3 points was the only winner today.
I’m at a loss. Can someone tell me what Xhaka brings to the team? Apart from cheap fouls and the odd long-range speculator, that is. I genuinely don’t get it. Anyone?
Well, it was better than a draw. Butnot much better.
We are extremely lucky to be in third at the moment. Emery has a knack of setting up teams that persist and win/draw matches they should not. But we also end up not winning matches the we easily should. Xhaka is being given far too much time, I think he should be benched. Even Pepe for that matter, he is just plain awful in front of goal at the moment. Drop them to the bench, give them time to think and let them win their place back. When on earth will he play Ozil? Gross mismanagement of a world class… Read more »