Arsenal got the roaring 20s off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory over Man Utd at the Emirates on Wednesday evening.
First half goals from Nicolas Pepe and Sokratis were enough to give Mikel Arteta his first win as manager, and it came off the back of another display full of commitment, energy and work-rate.
The three points were well overdue and hopefully this is something we can build on.
Read the Arsenal 2-0 Man Utd report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
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.
Cheers!
Cheers to you too! Great first half from the lads. Fell asleep after the break for 25 mins but came back into it at the end and fully deserved the win. Arteta put out a good formation I thought and his tactics were on point.
Feels good to win again! HNY to all gooners!
You love to see it.
Beating United … it’s fuckin excellent
Ozil ????
Read somewhere he had 10 ball recoveries(highest) and ran further than he has in 2 years!
Arteta is showing my biggest complaint about the Emery hire… The first question has to be, “How do you plan to use Mesut? We just signed him up for the next 3 years”… Put your best players in position to play their best, crazy smart!
Yesss
Tonight I think that the individual player ratings are irrelevant. We played as a team, we played for each other, we played for the manager and we played for the fans.
We have our arsenal back, long may it continue!
I gave all the players 10. They deserve it so much. happy new year
Arse!
Are you watching Barcelona?!!! Ok too soon, sorry.
This has to be the benchmark now.
They already seem more confident in this system than any style in the Emery era.
For the first time, we look like we have a well rounded squad.
Lacazette’s confidence issues aside, it’s good to see everyone step their game up.
Excited for the first time in ages.
Even Laca looked better today, finishing aside. He was huffing and puffing away from the penalty area, and it was producing things instead of just producing a warm poo.
Laca really needs a goal. He’s trying real hard but sometimes too hard. Seems frustrated.
He munched that giant battle ork with great strength
Enjoyable football…It’s great
I’ll be honest, I privately disliked Ozil. I thought he was creative and inventive, but unfocused and unwilling to put top effort in. Mikel has given him new breath. I don’t know what kind of black magic Mikel is using, but I never thought I’d see the day where Ozil is pressing and coming back to defend and even putting a foot in. He was world class today and has looked like a different footballer altogether under Mikel.
He even tried to win a defensive header in our box, too
He just put Ozil is in the positions from where he can be dangerous and made sure he gets the ball in those positions. I would love to see the heat map to compare. Under Emery he was mostly operating on the wings to create space for full backs. Defensive wise we now play in a formation 442 (which is for me the best defensive formation). Ozil is on the top together with Laca. Under Emery we defended 4321 and he was mostly on the wing where is tougher to defend. He also put him in the center of the… Read more »
Well said
I definitely agree that Arteta has put him in the positions where he can receive the ball and thrive. He ran further than he has ran in over 2 (two!) years. He has always ran a fair distance, but the difference was the quality of his running. Under Emery, he was running up to the midline just to have a chance to receive the ball. Now, with Arteta’s new positioning and overall team shape, he isn’t having to trot up to the midline to receive the ball. Instead the distance he is covering is to help defend. I even saw… Read more »
Yes yes and even Auba seems happy to play on the wings! What black magic!!!
Fuck United.
Yes, FU. Well, not you per se. But, you get the point.
Sorry, I’ll grab my coat. That’s how you Brits say it, right?
Yes and dont forget your pocket watch, pipe and extremely expensive umbrella
Let’s pray that Ole stays United manager for as long as SAF did.
No downvotes there. Ever.
And the referee who was as bad as Pawson in the Chelsea game.
Maybe not exactly as bad cos that would mean a sending off for Kola! But the referring against us of recent has been pretty diabolical !
Kavanaugh was far worse than Pawson. Pawson only made one mistake, really – failing to send off Jorginho. But Kavanaugh was both inconsistent and one-sided from beginning to end. If Kolasinac’s foul in the second minute warranted a yellow card, then Man Ure should have had three in the first half for identical fouls.
Every time one of our players went down he immediately pointed at them to leave the pitch…weird.
More of this please. Arteta is pep mk2 ?
I can’t wait for us to play Man City at the Etihad…Pep joked that he would beat Mikel when they meet…I wonder how confident he will really be by the time that game comes round? Pep wanted Mikel at City for a reason, but for too long I’ve heard people say that he was only there putting out the cones! To be able to get our bunch of under performers playing so well in such a short space of time makes me think that Mikel will end up being a world class manager and we are lucky that he loves… Read more »
Let’s not get ahead of us here.
Right. He should be Pep Wenger 3.0
Finally excited to watch the team again!!!! Torreira is the FCKIN man!!!!! He played his heart out and gives 200% every game. Him and Xhaka play well together and I hope their partnership continues to grow. Credit to Arteta for bringing back the Arsenal way. Ozil, Laca, Kolasinac, AMN, pretty much everyone. Great lineup. Really hoping Laca can get back to scoring Pepe got a goal and I hope he continues to improve. Excited for 2020
I don’t think Mesut has played that well for 95 minutes since he was at Madrid. Wouldn’t we love to know how Arteta has transformed him from a sad and lackadaisical figure into an all-action player covering every inch of the pitch: running, tackling, passing – even fighting for headers.
Perhaps he just needed a manager who believes in him and allows him to express himself. He was just sensational tonight. Easily his best performance in an Arsenal shirt and, without being unkind, he put in more work tonight than he has in the past year.
He set the team up to play to his strengths. Then Ozil did what Ozil does.
Worked his ass off too.
Kinda making it look like Emery didn’t know what he was doing.
“Kinda making it look like Emery didn’t know what he was doing.”
I think part of the problem was simply that Emery doesn’t like, and doesn’t use well, traditional number 10s in any of his many formations.
To great success obviously.
My biggest defence of Emery was that he didn’t understand how the Premier League worked, but I’ve started to suspect that actually he just didn’t understand how Arsenal worked.
Wrong kind of manager for us I think to be fair.
You must have a very short memory. He had many games like this in the early years and remember how we started winning trophies after he joined. However this is the best run of matches he’s had in recent years. Looking like the world class player who Arsene Wenger signed
Let’s calm down a bit on the Ozil hype train maybe…Arteta is putting an arm around his shoulder to cajole him into what should otherwise be baseline performances for a 350k/wk “star”…that’s fine but Kevin de bruyne he’s not…we’ve seen these fleeting in and out performances before, many times…let’s see if he’s up for it full 90 mins in shit January weather up in Newcastle etc…
Arteta’s last role as a player was to enable Ozil into working his magic. Now, he’s doing it as a manager. You stone-hearted twinkle-toes have a heart.
Ozil working with Alexis Sanchez was about as brilliant as you can get.
I think Aubameyang is better than Sanchez. Their partnership really flourished beyond the ‘norm’ of top-flight.
did not really*
Great performance and win. Pepe showed some real potential.
So many things to like about this game. -Torreira’s performance should be memorialized in a youtube video on how to properly play as a #6. He was exceptional. 10/10 performance for me. Wish he were able to score that goal after the nice move he made. -Laca bossed up Ol Blockhead all night. Instrumental in helping us build our attack throughout. -The amount of tactical fouling done by CHE/MU tells you all you need to know about the success Arteta’s had in getting the lads to play his way. They look sharp in possession, while our pressing and positioning constantly… Read more »
3rd of March. The day that the student shall become the master.
I can’t wait…a win at the Eithad would be a perfect birthday present for my son who’s a massive Gooner!
He’s lifted their fear of playing the ball forward. The next step is to get them fit to play that style the whole 90 without wheezing through the last half hour.
I actually wanted to come on here and post this. They looked so confident playing the ball out of the back even under the opposition press that it made me wonder what exactly Emery was teaching them. Was he ever even teaching them how to play out of the back ?? This and the many other almost immediate changes to the emotion and confidence of the squad makes me scratch my head about the last 18 months. Anyway, super pumped for the future!
Only one I was abit annoyed with was Maitland-Niles, he was better than normal, but the constant backwards passing and being breezed by 3 times from martial lowers his rating in my eyes.
Brilliant performance though.
I thought he’s backpassing was part of the tactical arrangement to get Utd to increase the press on our right and free up Xhaka and Luiz for those passes along the line to Auba and Kolasinac and crossfeild to Pepe.
The amount of running Auba put into this game was intense. He is incredibly, ridiculously fit to have played 90 minutes like this, three times in a week. Can’t explain how pleasing it is to see that kind of effort
I thought for sure he was going to pull a hammy at the end of the match due to fatigue! Impressive indeed! And at 30 years old!
I shall sleep happy and drunkenly tonight.
Arteta has our Arsenal! !
“Give us our Arsenal back you!!…you little Lego Terminator!!”
Sleep it off, mate.
10/10 little terrier Torreira doing a Popeye when he was out and double timing it to the end!
Wow! What a difference a manager can make! And this was only the 3rd game! I am amazed and so proud of all of our players and fans for backing up the new boss.
Did anyone even notice that Lingard actually started this game? He was in Torreira’s back pocket all night. I hate that prick.
Arteta has the psychology of modern day football figured out. Everything he says is either inspiring or enlightening.
He is exactly what we have being crying out for in the post Wenger era. Someone to gel the club and help us forge a new identity.
We have fallen on our feet bigtime by appointing him as manager. I’m genuinely optimistic for what the future holds.
It’s beyond that…he’s got the psychology of modern leadership down, football or otherwise. He would be a shining light in corporate. Culture, inspiration, and motivation are the great differentiators. I’m amazed at what appears to be a truly gifted leader…and if he has the tactical acumen to match? Look out.
Can we play again tomorrow please!!! I can’t get enough of this new team and how we play… finally!
I am so happy that we finally won. The players worked so hard for it and they deserved it. In the past month we weren’t at our best but we were also very unlucky. The Godess Fortuna was just not on our side. But now we need to build on this. The hard work has only begun. I am always optimistic when it comes to Arsenal. I believe we can still make it to finish in the top 4. We should expect nothing less from the players and Arteta (in a healthy way, not toxic). I still think that one… Read more »
Undersold that bonus rating… winning a game, playing well, and a clean sheet has got to be a we-rate-dogs 12/10 at minimum
We played as a Team who likes the Manager ⚪️?
Football feels good again after that win. And to think Emery was going to be offered a new contract!
Generally…. Lacazette always works hard Aubameyang drifts in and out, but he’s deadly Ozil’s mainly a passenger Pepe has looked dangerous on the ball, but off the ball a liability I’ve had grave concerns about whether or not we could get OPAL functioning together, but if Arteta can get them working like that every game? Then we’ll have a chance, there’s no doubt they have the talent, it’s just getting them to repeat that level of drive and focus consistently. Thought Xhaka was good tonight, Arteta says he thinks he’ll stay, which is good news, he’s our best centre mid.… Read more »
Loading up the front with Auba, Laca, Pepe and Ozil while keeping Lucas deep to cover for our banged up defense seemed like the sensible set up. Thankfully it worked. Didn’t hurt that United looked awful.
Best performance in years. I’m waiting to see if the media narrative around Ozil will change.
Well, considering my stream (Lee Dixon) criticised Ozil three times when they were trying to be complimentary regarding his work rate, I don’t think it’s likely the narrative will change.
You never go full Sanogo!
I can’t get over the difference in today’s game from Emery’s last game. The whole game it was like watching a different player in every position.
COYG!
Exactly what my wife said. She’s suffered through many Arsenal games with me and today she uttered the following words: “This is like watching a whole new team”. And she stayed interested to the end. That hasn’t happened in a while.
Mikel Arteta has saved your marriage!
No matter what, there is no question that Arteta has brought a new style and formation to the team. I absolutely love the pressing as soon as the opposing team gets the ball, no more falling back and let them charge into our zone. Reminds me so much of how Klopp likes his teams to play. He did it at Borussia Dortmund and does it with Liverpool. By pressing so hard in midfield, it strengthens our defense immensely. Damn, it is so enjoyable to watch. I was so upset last year when we signed Emery over Arteta, and now we… Read more »
I honestly believe it’s a blessing we didn’t appoint Arteta straight after Wenger. We were always going to have a slight setback and at least Emery was the fall guy and now Arteta will have the backing of fans desperate to see him succeed, buying into his vision and style rather than judging too quickly.
My view exactly Tommmy, Emery has made it easier for us to galvanise our support behind Arteta
A good solid performance, but I’m not getting too excited. Let’s be honest: United were piss poor in that first half and we should have scored more than two goals. I think that they expected to turn up and roll us over like City did. Apparently, OGS tore into his players at half-time and we saw the difference. They were the better team after the break. In many ways I was more impressed by our performance in the second period. How many times in the recent past have we let leads slip by poor defending and a lack of commitment?… Read more »
Don’t think so. Yes, United were poor in the first half–but a good deal of the reason was the way we played. Their resurgence in the second period had much more to do with our fatigue–both Arteta and the players have openly said how they are not yet physically able to play 90 minutes that way. The plan is to play that way a whole match–Pep, not George Graham.
As for “two mid-table sides.” Well, we are nowhere near the quality of Liverpool and Man City. Leicester? Yeah, I think we are, once Arteta has us playing the way he wants. Chelsea and Spurs? Absolutely we are as good as them.
Man does it feel good to be excited about Arsenal again.
When Bellerin and Tierney return from injury, Our attack will be ??
I saw an interesting interview with good old David Dein who was speaking about how he wanted Arsene Wenger to replace George Graham but instead appointed Bruce Rioch due to the other board not sharing in Dein’s faith in Wenger. The following year we got our man and the rest is history. You can draw parallels to the Arteta situation now. We wanted him the first year post Wenger but elected for the safer option in Emery. Didn’t work out and now we have our man. The “gamble” the “risk” the “inexperienced one”. Well, blow me away if he hasn’t… Read more »
This is what happens when you put players in their right position and play to their strength. Also tactical it works. Can’t believe it took us so long to replace tt Joker. Finally Batman Arteta is slowly clearing up all the mess and make fans and players align together again. Big hope for 2020! Coyg
I’m in love again
Always feels good to beat United even if it’s not the big game it used to be. Loving the attitude of the players who are really working hard. This is the sort of football I was expecting under Emery when he spoke about being protagonists. The only worry is the form of Lacazette in recent games who is missing a lot of chances he would normally put away with his eyes closed. It seems like there’s something seriously wrong with him at the moment. Other than that we’re looking good and top four doesn’t feel as out of reach as… Read more »
Arteta oh you betta oh you win, win, win… Arteta oh you betta oh you win, win, win… Win.,Win, Win ??? courtesy of Fame /Price
So these set of players can play from the back under press without shitting their pants or giving supports heart attacks every seconds of a football match? Good to see that good coaching still matters in football.
What a waste of the previous 18 months in the club era!
Lacazette has to be one of the best CF. dribblers around. Not just the range of movement and finesse he has to beat players but the sheer bloody mindness to win a duel at all costs and find the space required.
Game of two halves. Good effort first half again not able to have sustained in second. Slightly fortuitous result but made more firm by a second goal first half. Still riding our luck too much and we need to work on control, sustaining energy levels. 1) Leno- Shook off the clanger last game and had a decent game today. Several timely blocks show he is anticipating the danger rather than reacting to them. Kept us in it again a number of times. 2) AMN – If I have to hear another asinine comment about him not being in a ‘natural… Read more »