Unai Emery admits Arsenal struggled to find any rhythm against Huddersfield but he was pleased with their character as they ground out a 1-0 win.
The Gunners had to wait until the 83rd minute to break the deadlock when Lucas Torreira’s close-range overhead kick converted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s cross.
The Uruguayan’s second goal of the week was enough to seal the three points and extend Arsenal’s unbeaten run to 21-games.
“It was a tough match, like many matches, and today it is important because we didn’t have rhythm but still won,” Emery told the BBC.
“I’m very happy with the result. It was hard for us to control the match today.
“Patience is the key word today. I wanted us to win more quickly but we needed to be patient.
“We can improve more and today we spoke that we want to win matches with more control. But we are very competitive and showed character.”
The result sees us climb, albeit temporarily, to third in the table. Next up it’s Qarabag, a chance to play the kids, before a trip to Southampton who’ll probably be hyped up after saying goodbye to Mark Hughes.
‘perhaps’ temporarily! Here’s hoping ?
Is Torreira the signing of the season?
Option A – Yeah
Option B – Fuck Yeah
Option C – all the above
The referee and his clique were shit, how on earth was Lacazette’s goal offside. Can’t wait for VAR. Huddersfield though played well and made it tough for us but sometimes you have to win ugly.
I thought Lacazette was unlucky to be subbed off. He was holding the ball so well…. was hoping Unai would take off one of the Midfielders instead. We lost that fluidity in the final third.
But at least we won….
Don’t need rhythm when you’ve got Lucas Torreira
We had to beat the ref and Huddersfield today. Great character once again from the arsenal players after a tough week. Now time to rest up for the Southampton game. 1 nil to the ARSENAL.
I love it..when we grind out results. That’s what top teams do..7 out of 9 possible points with a New Manager against a tough run of fixture. Can’t ask for more.
Iwobi needs to be little decisive with the ball. Xhaka coming back showed what we lost in that United match. He is top player to switch the play and recycle possession.
We also need Mesut back as soon as possible. The way he plays helps us unlock the defences against teams like Huddersfield.
Can’t ask for more.
With the amount of injuries and suspensions, we might need him as a centre back against Southampton…
Good 3 points but this was Unai’s first cock up. Two HT subs at 0-0 smacked of panic and it rubbed off on the players. The second half was Wengerball style chaos. Miki for one of the THREE holding midfielders would’ve sufficed, and if Laca wasn’t injured taking him off was a big gamble. I love Unai and I think he’s a fucking great manager but he was all over the place today. Still, where there’s Lucas there’s hope!
I agree…i thought subbing 2 players at once at half-time leaves you hostage to fortune…i am not convinced by Iwobi and slightly less by Mikhi…together, at any rate…we winged it today and won but this shit is not doing my blood pressure any good…i mean its Hudders-fucking-field…but they defended like I want us to defend…COYG!
i actually thiink he got the lineup wrong today. three defenders against huddersfield, thats far too respect for them. and even playing two strikers and three centre midfielders hurted us, because there was simply too few attacking midfielders on field to play a good possession based football. i think maybe he thought after 2 games players will be a bit tired and needed more protection. anyway whats important is that he always recognises when the plan is not working and make changes instantly, that won us the game
Really enjoying Emery’s Peaky Blinders Arsenal
Socratis is a bit of a cunt, glad he’s our cunt.
Nacho’s back!
Three booked for diving!
and oh boy,
Torreira, ya wee beastie!!
Love a good old fashioned rugged 1-0 win.
Can’t work out who the hell is gonna be our back line against Southampton.
Bellerin, Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac is my guess , perhaps Lichtsteiner?
Your love for Mark Hughes always shines through Blogs
We need to play as many youngsters as we can against qarabag… especially in the defence as we are a bit threadbare there and may need to rely on young players there in other competitions as well. I don’t think we need to buy CBs, we should probably call chambers back if we can and also give chance to medley and pleguezuelo and mavropanos. Internal solutions as the old saying goes.
Against Quarabag, I’m torn on which centre backs to use. Both Koscielny and Monreal could use the game time, but they should also be handled carefully coming back from serious injuries. Should we play Sokratis and Pleguezelo?
Apart from that, play Cech and all the kids!
Too true. A bit of a rough and tumble game which we for most parts kept under control but struggled for fluency second half in the attacking third. But blimey the Ref has a fondness for the colour yellow. Two frankly unnecessary cards for Mustafi and Guendouzi in the box. Maybe they went down but it was hardly simulation. Card happy ref ruined the game second time running for us. Sokratis was lucky not to get a different colour card late on when he went shoulder barging on DePoitre unnecessarily and then went apoplectic thereafter. Similarly his yellow was somewhat… Read more »