…… and the door slides open POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES In the 14 months that Mikel Arteta has been at Arsenal he has experienced every curve of the rollercoaster that most managers would enjoy and endure in a decade. I sit here a few hours post game and I wonder if he knows that he […]
If you had told me in August, on the back of his double two goal FA Cup Wembley heroics that I would be asked to write about Aubameyang losing his edge, I would have laughed. After the striker’s heroics the collective Arsenal fanbase followed the skipper’s social media hints and anxiously took confidence from Arteta’s […]
The absence of automatic POSITIVES, NEEDS AND HOPES Everyone seems to be dealing with their own level of disappointment after yesterday. Some have gone for fire-face emoji-man. Others are emotional because it just happened and it wasn’t very pretty. There are a batch who see a 0-1 to City as ‘not bad considering.’ Then there […]
Match Preview Arsenal resume their Europa League campaign on Thursday evening, when they travel to Rome for the first and away-leg of their round of 32 clash against Benfica. Both sides come into the tie having gone through the group stages unbeaten, as well as being amongst the highest-scorers in the competition. The Portuguese side […]
I, too, cannot wrap my mind around Mikel Arteta’s substitutions. I can’t explain why he keeps playing Willian on the left, I can’t understand why he seems to overlook Martinelli, and so on. I believe he should have responded better when David Luiz got sent off at Molineux and I think he killed the team […]
When the Coach got to coach POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I was really looking forward to yesterday’s game. Off the back of two losses and another potential fan meltdown, that may seem a little crazy. My excitement was based on knowing that the game came with a full weeks preparation time. Something our coach hasn’t […]
I read two excellent whilst differing articles on Sunday, after Arsenal’s limp attacking display at Villa Park. Both were posing questions about Arteta’s strikers and while differing in their conclusions, the consistent message was that perhaps neither Lacazette or Aubameyang are the central striker the manager needs or wants for his team. Given that the […]
I read two excellent articles after Saturday’s disappointing loss at Villa Park, both looking at Arsenal’s striker issues in slightly different ways. One described it as ‘our penalty box problem’. Both Lacazette and Aubameyang are top strikers with differing attributes, indeed the Arsenal captain, is arguably world class. However, the question raised is whether either, […]
The FA Cup weekend is over now, the last one of the season for Arsenal. However disappointing it all felt we have to always look forward. We won’t be adding to our record number of FA Cup wins but there’s still plenty football to be played and targets to be achieved. We go into this […]
Formations/tactics (4-2-3-1/4-1-2-3) Mikel Arteta retained the 4-2-3-1 that has proved to be successful for the Gunners in their last three games, although an evident trend was Willock pushing forward regularly, with Elneny operating in a single pivot. Pressing & Defensive shape Arsenal utilised a 4-4-2 press when Newcastle were deep in their own half, with […]
