A day for Arteta This isn’t just good form you know. Step back for a minute and admire this new team. That performance last night wasn’t just dogged. You can’t play Liverpool at Anfield, one of the best teams in world football, and shut them out with 10 men with no shots on target if […]
Preparing for the absent POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I’m normally not in the camp of folk who say pre-season is just for fitness and rhythm. I’m still not. As a coach it is pivotal, not just for players to get in the groove but to try out the most important tactics/strategies that you want to […]
The Conductor and his part time Rock Band POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES End of season review This is a tale of the unnecessary. There once was a really good music teacher. He had been given the opportunity to work with a fairly talented but unbalanced rock band called ‘Unexpected.’ The music teacher had taken […]
Small happy, bigger frustration POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES Perhaps I’m overthinking this as the answer to my frustrations could be so very simple. It’s the last game and the pressures off, right? The players would rather have not played in the Conference league, I’m sure. But…. Why were so many of our season long problems […]
The 4 Minute Rebellion POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I might be reaching here. Could be wrong. I’m happy to say this as it’s truth. Watching the game yesterday something jumped off the screen at me. We had spent 90 minutes trying to execute Arteta’s passing patterns. We then binned them. Then we won. It’s also […]
Arsenal don’t but Arteta does POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES Mikel Arteta won’t feel like he walked away with a win yesterday. He didn’t. Yet, did he personally get a win? As the coach of the team he may never know or feel this personal victory but I’d imagine when he pauses he will realize, if […]
As much uncertainty as there is at the moment, now is a good time to look at some of the Arsenal players and figure out if they have a future at the club. Here are my suggestions, using stats, additional information (from Transfermarkt) and perhaps some misjudgement and prejudice of my own… looking at four […]
So… after links to Boateng, Lemar (deja vu??) and rumours of Auba leaving, we finally ended up with Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari as loaned defenders. Soares has PL experience with Southampton and won the Euros with Portugal and the GOAT (Ronaldo) in 2016. Pablo Mari was in the recent CWC final with Liverpool, […]
Arsenal vs Leeds FA Cup third round preview Born and raised in Leeds for a third of my life, its hard to not feel a sense of affinity or almost nationality when it comes to football clubs, as is the case for me with Leeds United. Although I started supporting Arsenal in my teens, there […]
The Gunners put on a promising display against Chelsea despite losing 2-1, with the opposition tactics causing two defensive calamities, that lead to a first defeat under new manager Mikel Arteta. For 70 minutes of this Arsenal vs Chelsea fixture, Arteta’s team looked promising, and for me deserved a draw rather than a loss. Arsenal’s […]
