We’re now at the halfway stage of the league campaign and already we trail the leaders by twenty one points. Bizarrely, the mentality of some Arsenal supporters or perhaps I should say Arsene supporters, has been to focus on us being just a solitary point behind fourth place and discuss it in a way that […]
Thanks to our friends over at EA Sports for this mid-season update. Some interesting stats in here – noticeably the absence of any Arsenal player in the Goalscorers Top 6. It’s hard to win anything without scoring, and Arsenal has had one of its lowest scoring seasons in ages. We have hit the woodwork a […]
Despite the general gloomy mood with regards to yesterday’s game and result, I can’t shake off an overall positive feeling. This is in sharp contrast with my Twitter timeline, Arsenal blogosphere and the opinions of fans inside the stadium. I can’t quite put my finger on why I’m inclined to feel slightly optimistic. Is it […]
Arsenal 3-3 Liverpool Matchday 19 • Emirates Well…wow. What the hell was that? In my preview, I mentioned Liverpool and Arsenal are similar, but this is taking the mickey.This game was a tale of two good attacks, and two poor defences. Liverpool dominated the first half. Firmino looked primed, as Cech saved well at the […]
Before the game I genuinely thought we would see the Gunners respond to last week’s injustice at the Emirates. The rested during midweek squad started fully, with just one, rather predictable, exception: Mertesacker for Mustafi. It’s a change a championed myself to a degree in my preview, though it still came second after switching to […]
The similarities are plentiful between Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka: Both were brought in during the 2016 summer transfer window with high price tags. Both play in key central areas that constitute the spine of the team. And both have excellent vision on the pitch and display an above-average ability to pick a long pass. […]
Watching the Burnley vs Arsenal game yesterday, I was struck with the incredible partisan nature of the crowd. I don’t mean fervent, passionate get-behind-your-team partisan, I mean boo-the-other-team-and-every-single-decision-that-is-given-or-not-given-against-you. It was absolutely remarkable. Handball shouts every 2 minutes, baying for blood with every Arsenal tackle. It got me thinking about the basis of football support. Do […]
It’s the visit to the Merseyside today on the cards for the Gunners, pinning Arsene Wenger’s men against Ronald Koeman’s blue outfit. Everton is generally a tough team play, they have become uncomfortable opponents during the David Moyes era, but facing them under the stewardship of Ronald Koeman is even less appealing. Of the […]
Abandon the Back Three Arséne’s foray into a back 3 has always felt a bit like a 57-year-old man buying a Porsche. Everything he tried and had always done just wasn’t quite working anymore. So, he looked at all his hip young fellow managers and effectively just copied them. And it started to work, he […]
Slightly obsessed is how you can describe my association with the Arsenal midfield dynamic over the last few years. I’ve written many articles about partnerships and steps to take in order to achieve balance. In my opinion, this issue is bigger than simply players that are deployed or who we can sign in a transfer […]
