Arsenal finally got a Premier League goal and a Premier League win, beating Norwich 1-0 at the Emirates thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal.
It wasn’t vintage Arsenal by any means, but there were chances and professional time-waster Tim Krul made a number of saves which kept the scoreline respectable. At the other end, on his Premier League debut, Aaron Ramsdale wasn’t unduly troubled, but his defence put in a big shift to deny Norwich moments of real danger.
Hopefully this is now something we can build from and get going again.
Read the Arsenal 1-0 Norwich match report and see the goals here
Arsenal 1-0 Norwich – Player Ratings
The ratings are 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 Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Onwards and upwards.
It’s allot easier to look for positives with this team. If that was a 1:0 with xhaka, Cedric, Mari, Willian in the team we’d still have our head down. But something about today tells me these players will have bad days but collectively get better as the season goes on.
My brother text me going that ramsdale looks a character and you know I feel he could be very important if the crowd/fans take to him and the defenders in front of him. He had shithousery eyes.
On the topic of Shithousery, Is there a better sight in football than seeing Tim Krul race to take goal kicks after time wasting all match?
The irony is however, that all the time he wasted gets added on at the end which means Norwich benefit from us going one nil up.
Just so refreshing to see something different and put okay at a good Tempo. Add partey to that team and we might have something to work with. Just a joy watching an arsenal game without xhaka, Leno and some busted arse old CB.
It was so nice to see that fluidity in the middle of the park – we never get to see that with Xhaka on the pitch. Reminds me of when Jack/Santi/Ramsey/Diaby were around.
Diary….?
Don’t you mean Ozil….?
*Diaby
Feels good to smile again
I think the team mostly picks itself for the next match (Partey in for AMN) but will be very interesting to see if he drops Pepe or Saka for ESR. I’d play ESR-Öde-Saka behind Auba.
Like him or not, Pepe created the goal today.
I like your idea in theory but in my opinion he is our most directly threatening player who takes shots and takes chances. So we leave him out at our peril. We saw what happened to the team when he was left out for William last season, and it wasn’t pretty. I think what he lacks in clean buildup he more than makes up for at the business end.
Agree with this. Until ESR, Ødegaard and Saka can learn to scrounge up some goals between them we’re going to need Pepe. That left foot is a weapon in the right places.
Horses for courses. If Burnley sit back, play ESR. Is the press, play Pepe.
You’ll need a time machine to manage it that way.
Totally agree. Pepe doesn’t always finish perfectly, or build up perfectly, but his flair is always creating chances.
I think ESR showed he must start. Ode or Saka to start on the bench against Burnley imho.
Odergaad holds the ball up better than ESR. I’d drop Saka on the performance yesterday. Looked tired.
Pepe is really frustrating, but he seems to always get involved in our goals somehow. I would like all 4 of them – Pepe, Saka, ESR and Odegaard – to play but don’t know how it’s possible.
In the 4-3-3 formation.
We kinda just saw how it’s possible when Partey and ESR came on today. That would be my preferred line up.
I think this explains why Arteta at one time tried him upfront. Not in the Norwich game though.
They all offer something a bit different and they will need to be rotated. It was nice bringing on Smith Rowe today, he stretched their tired defense. Wouldn’t mind Saka getting rest too.
Re my earlier comment, we shouldn’t underestimate just how young Saka is, despite his obvious intelligence and (relative) maturity – he MUST have suffered after Euro.
He’s a battler – and quietly reslient – but that also means he may well not have articulated and properly processed stuff.
He is too valuable not to be given whatever break/rest/relief he may need.
Yes. Been a Nico fan since the start and the last year or so he has been our most direct, dangerous, player without a doubt. White/Partey/Martin’ s “rightsideness” will only make him stronger. Strange to say but I still think he will explode and have 20/25 goals….
Spot on. Not ‘if’ but ‘when’ he develops a sync with Ode, Partey and ESR, sparks WILL fly… they’ve never had a decent run of games nor played off a solid rearguard platform (which we may well now be finally establishing).
Watch this space…
Pepe is good against this kind of team, I would like to see him do more against the bigger teams against which he seems lost, and I think may as well use esr instead. Unless Pepe starts to really kick on, but I’m not sure he’s got much more then what we’ve seen, where as esr has more to grow.
I seem to remember him scoring against United and being involved in goals in our FA Cup run
We paid > 70 million for a 35 million winger. Pepe doesn’t offer anything that Iwobi didn’t have.
Difficult to know how to describe just how mindless that comment actually is!
Goal stats alone should shoot that down. Agree 70m is a huge fee, but definitely prefer Pepe to Iwobi.
Yup i world drop auba and start pepe up top with Saka marty and esr
I know this may get downvotes but Bukayo has looked a little jaded or out of sorts so far this season. Maybe the delayed effect of the Euro emotional rollercoaster… who knows?
I’d rest him for ESR, rather than Pep.
Its Ø not Ö
Oh…
You mean Öh? 😏
And apparently pronounced ooh, not oh. So sue me.
Agreed, bring on Pepe as an impact sub when one of the young guys get tired from running all over the field
You don’t pay £70 odd mil for an impact sub.
…but if he plays like one…..
Pepe has to be in the team he causes chaos for opposition’s defenders without him the team will struggle n the final third.
There’s a chance AMN could start instead of lokonga. He’s got more PL experience and knows what to expect at a tough away ground.
I can’t wait to see sambi and Partey together.
I’d be willing to give AMN one or two more outings at CM but he did nothing yesterday to allay my lingering doubts that he’s a better RB. Just seems to casual/laconic – we need a play-breaking terrier in there next to Partey
What if pepe upfront ahead of auba?
Drop Odegaard start ESR. Rest the same.
Been tried. Didn’t work.
For a while when we had Ôdegaard at 8, ESR at 10, and Partey dictating from the base, that’s the most fluid I’ve seen us in quite a while. Personally I would want that to be our line up against more stubborn teams set up to soak pressure. And see us revert to 3 CM’s against higher quality opposition. But I have a huge feeling it’ll be any two of Partey/Sambi/Xhaka making the midfield base (as always the case), regardless of who we face.
One nil to the Arsenal!
Phew
Did anyone miss Xhaka? No, me neither.
It’s physically impossible to play at that tempo with him in the side. This should be more than a wake up call to Mikel. And how many more does he need? In that first 30 we attacked at a speed I haven’t seen since 2016. That is the pace of the modern premier league.
And Xhaka was signed in.. 2016.
I’d like to say it’s a coincidence, but it’s not.
I’m trying to enjoy the moment, but in the back of my mind I know Arteta is just waiting to put him back out there like a human handbreak. It is the one negative feeling from today. Why couldn’t we have just moved on? A loveless marriage if ever there was one.
Really, how do you know?
It also happened twice last season when he was out. After he was suspended and we won away at united, next game Arteta put him back in the team. His ego is too big to be benched. If only his talent matched it.
What’s interesting is that last season when Xhaka was suspended against Burnley, it led to ESR’s insertion and an increased attacking tempo. But then Xhaka came back in and…for a while showed he’s actually capable of playing a more up-tempo game. (This was part of the inspiration for the jokes about how he’s really good for a while after a suspension.)
It’s a weird thing. It makes me think that Arteta doesn’t actually want the team to play at the slow-down pace that Xhaka seems to prefer, but then that contradicts keeping Xhaka and keeping him in a prominent role.
It does. Just not for us. Look at his performances for Switzerland.
Had same thoughts about xhaka. And amn looked no worse than xhaka on the ball and looked to drive forward.
btw you all get that amn was moved to rb to illustrate to amn how his versatility is his strength?
then he goes down with a cramp. Bad luck
How bloody good is lokonga!
Positives :
That’s a key stat to list about the shots amount. It did seem like we shot the ball a hell of a lot more than usual under mik
Thumbs up for the last point
Perfectly summed up!
Tomiyasu, Sambi, White, Ødegaard, Ramsdale all performing…
Wait…
Might we actually have had a good transfer window?
Despite all the pundits’ comments?
Dont you dare, pundits are always right…
Arsenal reached into the covid bargain bin at just the right time! If ever there was a time to spend (if you had the money) it was the last transfer window.
Not just pundits. A lot of Arsenal supporters decided that Ben White was crap after seeing him play one match for us.
So this is indeed a universal experience? My brother is a United supporter and he’s been doing this since pre-season. Glad to have this weekend off.
Nah I’ve received one saying Cristiano has scored more than us this season in half an hr.
I’ll take the 3 points and clean sheet though
Ok, this one is hilarious though.
🤣🤣🤣 Brutal.
Gotta say, much as I love to hate Manure… it was kinda special watching the pre-game and first goal.
Yay!
In Arteta we…no?
Rust.
Patrick Vieira 10/10
Hahaha…I am very sure you will get most number of likes.
Looks like Patrick Viera doing well in Crystal Palace
I wish we would’ve snapped up Edouard for that £15 mil
Just what I thought watching the highlights – fuck me but the lad has an eye for a chance! Flog ’em Eddie and we’d have got him for a nett Fiver or so!
Can you imagine how sweet that victory must’ve been for big Pat?!
Watching Norwich today was like watching peak big sam Bolton. I expected much, much better from them.
I get down voted by a Norwich supporter… 8D
Long ball. Time wasting. Poor, aggressive tackles. Classic Big Sam.
Wow. Loads of Norwich supporters on here!
😀
Or you’re just detached from reality.
They had lost the previous 3 games and gave a pretty good account of themselves none the less. Not sure what you expected of them? If anything I expected a worse performance.
One win, hope this will get us going. Hope the chemistry in the team grow further with new players gel in.
Hoping lack of Europe really helps in bonding and building connections. Milkel should also work on pressing which seems has gone off a little bit since he started.
It could also be argued that Europe helps the team remain sharp and gives more opportunities to fine tune their tactics in real match situations.
The top 4 last season, bar Liverpool, played up to the final in Europe. It didn’t seem to hamper them.
Deeper squads! Accounting for injuries/illness across the season, at the moment we barely have enough quality players to maintain one first team, let alone enough to rotate efficiently for regular mid-week games. Back in the Wenger days, Europe was exciting because you got to see the kids have their chance alongside a few senior players who could steady the ship. Hopefully in the coming years we offload more and more of the less-wanted players (sorry CS17 – thank you for the excellent block today though) and fill the squad up with players who can represent us well and are able… Read more »
I agree about the pressing. It feels like the key to me this season, particularly against weaker clubs–without Europe we should have the legs to press more. Today was promising, I thought. More pressing, better pressing (not like when Arteta started, as you said, but an improvement), and we could see just how often it led to turnovers that on another day would lead to more goals.
10/10 for the bonus rating
Fair game for a team with 5 new signings starting together for the first time.
Is AMN’s midfield experiment for the long haul?
I don’t think so.
Not being funny but I’ve never ever seen Norwich play that well in my life.
Shit teams always have their best games against Arsenal
A big part of the game is mental. We’re in a horrible place where any team we play feels like they can have a go at us and come out with a result. That’s never great because that motivates them to put in their best.
Compare that to the invincibile days when just showing up struck fear in the heart of the opposition team.
It’s funny but the worse our form, the harder we have to fight to earn wins. The better the team/form, the more the opposition is willing to accept defeat
Absolute facts, because they always go Into the game full of confidence based on our record against them
It makes some sense. They see us as vulnerable–and in many cases have since the late Wenger years–and that gives them the confidence to play well. The key is being able to turn the screw against these teams. I remember the last time we played Norwich we may not have even played as well as today but won by a lot more. Why? You get an early goal and wreck their confidence. On a different day, playing like we did today, I could easily see a 4-0 win, but you’ve got to finish or get the breaks for that to… Read more »
I think it’s partly that, as you say – but perhaps even more the fact that for the final Wenger seasons – and ever since – the Arse will invariably ‘arse’ you a gimme moment, provided you harrass us and keep pushing.
So teams tend to keep pushing in the hope for that one Mustuffup/Xhaka/Luis/Ceballos moment…
League Cup 1972: Arsenal 0 Norwich 3. I was there (unfortunately).
Was that the blond fella striker they had – Robinson or summat?
Norwich 3 – 2 Man City (2019/20)?
Their team very clearly has a Premier League ceiling but they’ve definitely played better football than yesterday under Daniel Farke.
Biggest positive for me was the way Aubameyang played. Of course he could have scored more, but I can’t remember seeing him this involved and enjoying an Arsenal game for quite some time. Get that man firing again and half our problems will be gone!
Good point. The guy is still class but he won’t be any good if we don’t play to his strengths. Something we haven’t done in a while really!
That quick long Odegaard pass over the top to him in the first half … more of that please.
Wow, I couldn’t disagree more, I thought Aubameyang was disappointing again. Never looked to help Odegaard press Norwich’s defense, and he misses chances that a striker of his calibre should convert. I gave him a 5 only because of the goal.
And then you agreed to disagree.. Lol
Going up for every header, actually running with the ball with his trusty old pace which I’d thought was lostand actually getting the diversity in service for once, positive signs for a very new team, odegaard annoyed me as much on the ball as he impressed me off it. Loved Sambi and Tomiyasu, who actually might be our toughest nut now. Thought Partey might have had a 2nd yellow late on but they didn’t pull it back, hopefully he’s got recovery pace to come with the fitness. White and Gabriel could really be a great partnership given time. Ramsdale has… Read more »
Watch the replay carefully and you’ll see a number to moments where he got into his trademark 6ft off the left post position – but our playmakers didn’t see him or couldn’t find him with the killer ball.
One can see why the players were purchased. A great deal of skill and talent. Hope for no injuries so they can become a team over the next few weeks.
Simple as that, feels like we’ve said that at the start of many a season though. May the imjury curse faid and die.
Looks like the Gunners first number one hit of the season 😍
And spurs were thrashed. Awesome.
By none other than our invincible captain. He still hates shit I see!
About the bonus rating – I can clearly remember Andrew moaning quite a bit about the 1-0 to Bournemouth, because he was done with Emery and the style of play.
“Shut the fuck up” seems pretty strong when it can be argued that the the team hasn’t really fixed its underlying issues.
Norwich was shit. They’ll likely be relegated.
We looked pretty evenly matched.
It was really a reaction to some of the stuff I saw on social media. People going on with ‘Oh one win and it’s like we’re celebrating the World Cup’, when nobody is.
People are just pleased/relieved we won, and should be allowed to enjoy that on its own merits without people just making stuff up to knock them down.
It was a bloody brilliant comment blogs, after all the negativity and demanding for a result we got one so STFU and enjoy it.
I really appreciate that you allowed the comment to go through and took the time to respond despite the fact that I called you out. To be fair, I don’t really see people not allowing others to enjoy the win – I certainly see much more of people shouting down those who say anything negative. Some of us simply don’t see a way forward under Arteta. To be perfectly honest, I think this is the worst result possible, because it takes some pressure off of him yet it doesn’t really show us how Arsenal can move forward, because against a… Read more »
As usual, Bot, you miss the point: AA has criticised performances in the past, as has Blogs… as have many of us here. No problem.
What I beleive Blogs has taken issue with – entirely appropriately imo – is those who feel the need to piss on others’ joy/relief/optimism when we.
Simply put – say whatever you wish about the team. And allow others the same right.
Or… stfu.
Saka I think is a better player as a RWF than on the left. Because he likes to cross in, an overlapping Tierney is a little redundant when they both play there. Pepe is so inconsistent with his first touch and gets trapped after holding the ball too long. Until he can 1 touch quickly he isn’t 1st choice to me. Saka far better there, especially after he nailed down that spot at the Euros. ESR on the left works better with Tierney since he likes to come inside, leaving space for Tierney on the touch line. I actually feel… Read more »
I do agree that ESR leaves more room for Tierney to operate than Saka does, but I also agree with some of the earlier posts on Pepe’s ability to create chaos in the box. Players like him who are primarily dribblers and scorers are always going to lose the ball fairly often in the opponent’s box, but Pepe is good for double digit goals, and double digit “chaos” goals by others like today’s, every season – it’s a risk/reward tradeoff. For a team that’s had no real creativity since Ozil’s heyday, we suddenly have a raft of creative players – ESR,… Read more »
I agree to some extent to be honest. I change my mind fairly often on Pepe and I know goals matter but I firmly believe a more fluid fast paced 1 touch style with movement will create more goals long term. I also refute the idea that Saka wouldn’t score goals from the right side at the same rate or better. He is the best player on this team, I think that’s clear. I say play him in his optimal position.Our young creative players are improving daily and I believe they will begin scoring at a higher rate very soon.… Read more »
I agree with you as well. Certainly Saka & ESR, and mabye Øde too, will score more as they gain experience and team fluidity improves. I definitely agree that Pepe’s transfer cost is irrelevant to playing time. But I think we will need his unique (in our squad) direct dribbling/scoring skillset fairly often, at least for the foreseeable future. Another point made by others above that I agree with is that a player like Pepe will thrive more when surrounded by fast 1 touch players who will get him the ball quickly enough to be 1v1 instead of 1v2 or… Read more »
0/10 – Peacock for taking my $5 every month and not showing me the first 20 minutes of this match
Ramsdale – seems more decisive than Leno with ball at feet, even if that meant going long a lot – which is fine. Tbf he wasn’t dealt the same pointless, awkward backpasses Leno usually gets from Xhaka, Holding, Bellerin, Mari etc Tomiyasu – Great energy, strong, defensively decisive, good enough technically. Much more adventurous than I thought he’d be at RB too White – Physically flimsy, too casual defensively a couple of times. Confident on the ball. Lucky to be up against Pukki who is a total milk float at this level Gabriel – Didn’t put a foot wrong I… Read more »
Lovely win for us and a loss for the Spuds.
Wait so Pepe has an assist, 80 touches in this game compared to Saka’s 44, he has 6 key passes compared to Saka’s 4, he has 88% pass success compared to Saka’s 83%, and two shots on target in comparison to Saka’s 0 sot. And yet Saka is higher rated?
I am a massive Saka fan, but this is kind of biased
I think the rating is coming from the recurring poor first touch that plagued Pepe in the first half and prevented our attack from clicking at times. I personally would not have begrudged Arteta had he yanked Pepe at halftime because of it, but Pepe was much better in the second half.
I think Pepe isn’t very liked around here. Seeing as he has been brought in for a great fee and he hasn’t exactly set the world alight, but he’s been a lot more better than he’s been given credit for. Ask now and most of the fans will say he’s the one they want making way for ESR. We should have been building our team around this player for a while now and have failed to do so. We renewed Auba and signed Willian. The way I see it, Pepe is Arsenal’s most dangerous offensive player. You just know he’s… Read more »
I love Pepe and agree he is an extremely dangerous player, but there are moments in the game when he doesn’t seem switched on and his first touch is sloppy and his defensive work is ragged (one can say this sort of thing about Aubameyang on occasion, too). I’m glad Arteta didn’t take him off, but I hope he can sharpen him up a bit further like he did in the second half of last season when Pepe was, I thought, superb.
Breaking: personal player ratings are subjective!
And it’s fine to question those subjective ratings. Peace.
He was accusing blogs of “bias” FFS; of course it’s okay to disagree and question ratings, but to claim bias is like being mad at water for being wet.
Spot on mate – Pepe is a very good player and has the potential to become world class. Keep playing him and he will deliver
Agreed with most comments above. Pepe has consistently gotten better and has the potential to be world class. And I hope he gets there. Maybe there’s a chance to play him as a 9 in the future? We’ve seen him played up there before in flashes. His aerial ability on long balls seems underrated and unnoticed. I feel he has all the right attributes to be a classic Wenger convert from wide to center possibly.
Yeah, I remember those genius Wenger converts. Made Henry, RVP, Toure, Pires into stars. He never did get enough credit for those. We also don’t see that happening in the game as much these days.
Tomiyasu is a monster in the air. Won 7 headers in his 1st half of PL football. Plus he’s energetic too.
Hope he can keep up with this kind of performances. He doesnt look like any of his compatriots at our club at all, which is a good thing.
Huh?
Good debut from Tomi.
Please stay healthy Partey. The ball just seems to find him in the midfield. The team looked so much more fluid when he came on. ESR just drives the ball forward so well.
AMN looked better with the ball when he was at RB. Lokonga has a bright future I think.
Loved Odegaard coming back to the endline to play defense in the dying moments.
Having said all that they do try and make it stressful these days.
How can we “shut the fuck up”, when there has been little or no improvement at the club in almost 20years…this club lacks ambition. After spending over 140M plus on players this transfer window…Xhaka is a starter after seeing that performance. In as much as I hate Xhaka play, it’s obvious he has a huge influence on this team. 2 seasons running Leicester City has finished above us, now we have West Ham to content with for Euro spot. Whatever you guys are seeing as positives in Arteta’s management please explain, cuz it’s all talk no substance. I’ve been reading… Read more »
Today was a good day, maybe we can return to the doom and gloom from tomorrow?
Initially you had my up vote.
Then you started praising Xhaka………..
👎
You should maybe consider that not everything is an existential referendum. Your team won, looking better than they have in ages. If you feel the need to moan about it, chances are that your major issue likely has nothing to do with AFC.
Agree!! Football clubs are not larger than your life and even if life there are stages when you doubt yourself, have period of low confidence, have periods of bright success etc etc. Why can’t we think of a club/organization following the same paths? Why are we thinking of superiority that “West Ham” shouldn’t be in Europe at our expense? I think people need to take things lightly a little bit. Maybe I am getting older for this stuff but since Social Media has came in our lives, it has wrecked havoc on existence of humanity and it always feel like… Read more »
Add to that we blooded a bunch of new, young players – with nary a foot put wrong.
It’s the first step on a long ladder but it’s an upward one.
Sounds like if we won 1-0 or 5-0, you were not going to be happy. Lakonga played well and Partey is building up his fitness, who’s to say Xhaka can get a look in after his shoe soon?
our new signings looked very good, especially our new right back (lokonga looks better/more ready than we expected), we kept a clean sheet, our very well paid striker scored a (decisive) goal, our line up suddenly looks pretty good.. also, tottenham lost 0-3 against crystal palace
to be honest, i didn’t expect to be so happy after a 1-0 win against norwich, but i actually am. not sure what the future holds but how can you be downbeat after today? lighten up
Others may not agree, but Tomiyasu felt more settled player with single training than Pepe did in all these years. Tomiyasu is looking like an excellent transfer. Good on the ball with both feet, thus able to evade pressure and move the ball really well. I really liked his runs and synchronization in the first half with Odegaard and Pepe. Our attacking mids need to be sharper near the opposition’s box. Odegaard lags even behind ESR in this aspect, while ESR himself has not performed well enough in those areas of the pitch. They need to up their game around… Read more »
… they played… …oponent of a similar level…
they are! 😬
Soares block at the end was mighty.
Yeah but he’ll still get pelters all week on here.
Delighted with a win with a clean sheet. From BBC website – “Tim Krul pushed Nicolas Pepe’s shot on to one post. Pepe follows up and hits the other post”
I can’t sum up Pepe any better then this….he has bags of potential, just seems super difficult to unlock it
Being consistently our most effective forward seems fairly “unlocked” to me.
Scoring more goals will be unlocked I think.
I think he has come so far since he first arrived (low confidence, lost the ball with frustratingly frequency when running at players, didn’t chase back to defend, only ever used his left foot to cross/shoot) – and I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere close to his ceiling yet. Some players take a while to settle into the PL, while others (ahem Tomiyasu) settle in straight away, for various reasons. I would argue that it’s important to stick with them until they show you they’re just not showing any signs of settling in. I would happily argue that Pepe is… Read more »
I remember another young French speaking ‘winger’ we bought… only got 2 goals in his first 17 appearances. And then…
Pepe for me was poor today. Tomiyasu was fantastic and Gabriel is what we’ve been missing our best CB. I like Ramsdale in goal better than Leno. Lokonga for such a young player is class. AMN out of his depth in midfield, Odegaard reminds me of Ozil in that you sometimes dont know he’s on the pitch at all and then he does something like make a block or track a runner and give a good pass. He offers more defensively than Ozil but doesnt do enough offensively for me. Will improve or needs to improve. Cedric block at the… Read more »
I think the comparison to Özil is good. They are both subtile tacticians, not energetic, physical fighers. Özil atracted a lot of ire on these pages, some of it exaggerated. Ødegaard will have to deliver assists or goals in order to escape his fate.
Tomisayu looks like a baller. Pepe needs to leave the club. Can’t help but think another player in his spot could provide more to the team. ESR and Saka together on the pitch would be much better.
Saka-ESR-Pepe…that’s our best line up
Pepe offer so much to the team, I can’t believe fans hating on him.
Delusion
Only six points off the top four.
Don’t get the good rating for Ødegaard. He ran around a lot and got in the way but otherwise his distribution was awful. Poor first touch, kept passing to a Canary, kept passing like a canary and so on. Hope he gets better otherwise ESR is going to have a busy season.
Here’s hoping we can keep up this winning streak!!
I really don’t understand the low score for Pepe, he was generally very good and probably our most dangerous player. I agree he started his Arsenal career in an underwhelming manner but last year he was one of our best players (I know that does not say much based on last year) and has also started this season looking good. There seems to be a segment of the Arsenal fans that just don’t like what he offers, but I am not one of them. He is the first name I look for on the team sheet and when he is… Read more »
I totally agree with you.
That Cedric block was so important
Yeah but he’s Cedric, yeah, so he’s, ya know, fkn shit and deserves that 1/10 from blogs every week…right? Meanwhile Norse god odi will never be below a 7…lol.
Pepe increasingly looks like a left footed Gervinho. Not that I think Gervinho was exceptionally bad, he had his moments too. But it feels like Pepe is like a wild card to throw mid game, not someone to rely on week in week out. I hope a switch flicks in him and he transforms his game with better end product though. He had an assist in the end, I don’t even care if it came off his shins or buttocks, do it week in week out and I’ll be a happy supporter.
That left foot curler only needed a few more inches to the right and it’s a goal. We know he can score that way. A bit more calibration and confidence and I think he scores a bunch of those.
I agree, he’s bright and offers attacking threat. But it’s time for him to deliver, it’s already his 3rd season in the PL. If he don’t, he’ll go down similarly to Gervinho, and I don’t mean it in a bad way. Gervinho was always similarly buzzing and threatening but offers just not enough end result.
Gervinho was truly erratic, sometimes playing magnificently and other times terribly. I disagree that Pepe is a wild card, he’s been pretty consistently our most threatening forward for a while now and I find him reliable in putting in good shifts and causing trouble going forwards. His price tag made everyone want him to be everything from the start, but he was young and needed time to develop – he’s still relatively young and I think he’s developing into a force to be reckoned with! He looks like he’s finally shedding the heavy weight of the price tag.
He was also – imo – mishandled in his first two seasons, not least playing well and then losing his place to… wait for it… Willian!
He’s never had a decent run in the team, and was continually tossed in (or yanked off). Hardly the way to settle a young fella into a new league, new language, new culture, etc.
WIthout your ‘left footed Gervinho’ we’d still be bottom.
10/10 to whoever impersonated Mike Dean for his VAR duties today and has the real Mike Dean locked away somewhere
Dean was off working on his acting career on ArTeda Lasso.
Excellent final sentence Blogs! Not that I disliked the rest of it obviously…
We won, I guess. Shutting the fuck up over here yo.
The best parts of this post: the drawing of Cedric, and the Bonus Rating. Both are great.
Cedric looks so happy in his illustration, even happier than Gabriel.
Must be his long-term financial security that is making him grin so big.
It was a needed fixture to boost confidence but I’m not so impressed. Hopefully they improve as the season goes on. Odegaard hasn’t impressed me yet
Odegaard could have easily had 3 assists today with better finishing. And he worked his damn arse off. Best presser on the day, defending to our end line, never lost concentration.
That long pass to Auba past their defense would have been a strong shout for assist of the week. He put it on a laser guided rope. The one-two attempt to put Saka through would’ve been vintage Arsenal.
Some positives to take from today, but overall, we could have easily lost/drew that game. It’s a good result, but not really a good performance. The players NEED to first-time pass it more, or at least play it quicker. Too often I saw players like Ben White (not singling him out, there were others) hold onto the ball way longer than necessary, allowing Norwich players to reassemble and get possession back. This happened too many times towards the end of the first half and the start of the second half. We have a player like Odegaard, so let’s play through… Read more »
Don’t disagree with much of this, but you can’t play the “if” game without saying what if Tomiyasu’s shot goes in or what if Saka doesn’t shoot wide, etc. Could have very well been 4-0 at the 90 minute mark.
Man of the match………Patrick Vieira.
Absolutely! Hopefully gets a standing O when he arrives with Palace
So want to get behind Arteta. How good would it have been if Tomiyasu’ shoot has hit the back of the net?
Alot of English and nigerian fans here
Criticizing pepe unjustly just to favor Saka who is even more underwhelming.
Lol.. Wat u don’t know…pepe is a better goal scorer, a more offensive threat..
With capacity to produce double of sakas end product..
If we want to keep scoring goals nd winning games ..pepe is our best plug..
U play esr, odegaard, Saka together …
U will struggle to score…
.u wonder why pepe is always involved in our goals??
We need to appreciate him more…
L😂L, I suppose that’s where most of his fans would come from. If it means anything, I’m a “local” fan and I’ve been saying that Saka needs to be rested for a couple of games. He’s been lacking a cutting edge that fatigued players tend to lack. I’m not Pepe’s “biggest” fan per se but I trust him to do more in the final third than Bukayo, 8 times out of 10. I also think Nico should be playing more as a second striker or centre forward. His first instincts seem to be to shoot most of the time –… Read more »
Wrap Thomas Partey in wool all week until Burnley
That’s a big hurdle overcome.
Not pretty but the job is done.
Glad to see Partey could be eased in. Burnley is not a nice game to have to make his first start of the season but he has to start somewhere.
Also, fuck you Tim Krul. Maybe if you stopped wasting time your team would actually score goals. Same shit he did at Newcastle. Cunt.
Ha ha. I remember one time against Newcastle he wasted time from the off. Until we scored a couple in the second half. Then he couldn’t move fast enough.
Must say– it is good to see that we are filling in the squad. In terms of 1st team overall, we need a 2nd RB and maybe another midfielder (I’d love AMN or a youngster– Patino or Azeez to get that last spot long term though). Given the approach of building a young spry team that will be good in the medium and long term, we may need to freshen up upfront. We have a couple of good young strikers and then a couple of older ones. Both oldies are probably overrated; I like Laca but he is yet to… Read more »
10/10 bonus rating.
COYG!
Raw materials for a great side here. Just needs to gel
Like always I’m biased as a Norwegian but must say that I had a tear in my eye as the final whistle went today. Was this Martin’s first Emirates apperance with full house? Think so. Anyway… He is so impressive, set the press, sprints, passing, distanse covered, any stats??? He will grow, grow, Grow.
As I have already said we have a unique young talented squad…
Stay healthy, support Mikel & the players.🙌🙌🙌
Yup. As you say, very biased. It’s such a wonder Madrid let him go! He’s the fkn best midfielder in the world!