BETTER WITH ARTETA Arsene Wenger once said “Confidence goes down by the lift and up by the stairs.” It’s fair to say before Arteta’s arrival confidence was down in the deepest, darkest basement with no stairs even visible. The players were arguing and seemed not to care. Fans were angry – which showed they cared, but […]
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United: “I see special” [Positive Needs & Hopes]
I see special My son is 9. He knows far more about football than I did at his age. He is currently baffled at how Arsenal are changing though. Whenever I tell him that the improvement he is seeing is mainly because of the coach he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand because he has yet […]
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea: A lesson in footballing ruthlessness and tactical awareness
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 […]
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea – Missing yellow and late calamities give the Reds the blues [with Player Ratings]
Arsenal and Chelsea, as the kings of the capital city, played another intriguing game here. And like in Azerbaijan, we came up second best again. And yes, kings of the capital city, since they’ve both won major trophies in recent history – unlike a certain football club in the Borough of Haringey. Chelsea -as they did […]
Arteta’s Arsenal were winning the fight before being punched below the belt by Pawson, Jorghino, Leno and Mustafi
Winning the fight, punched in the gut. Positives, Needs and Hopes Unbelievable. I wrote that word 5 hours ago and had to walk away. It felt like all my son wanted for Christmas was some balloons. I got the balloons. He was so, so excited. Then the evil kid next door came over, looked […]
Arteta’s first home match closes a mixed decade – What is his plan and which Chelsea will turn up?
The last decade for Arsenal has seen some positive and negative factors. On the plus side, Arsene Wenger won three FA Cups, moved to the Emirates Stadium. On the down side, Arsenal have recently sacked their manager Unai Emery. The Arsenal dwindling fan base for home fixtures has reduced, and financial results are apparently down […]
The time is right now for Arteta with smaller shoes to fill and supporter expectations realistic
Whoever The Arsenal decided to appoint to succeed the sacked Unai Emery, was always likely to be met with criticism and negativity by many of the club’s supporters and there were no exceptions made for Mikel Arteta. With the most common criticism being the most obvious one. His lack of any previous managerial experience. However, […]
Arsenal Supporters Alliance – Are Headphones or the Head of Arsenal truly the issue at our club?
“Headphones” – the wearing of such evades Arsenal’s true issues. It was interesting to see some points made by the Arsenal Supporters Alliance the other day. In their welcome to new head coach, Mikel Arteta, they were offering suggestions going forward, specifically on player conduct. Some points were that players shouldn’t wear […]
Ainsley Maitland-Niles as an ‘Inverted Fullback’ – An Instant Arteta influence
One of the stand out features of yesterday’s match, Arsenal first under their new coach, was the role of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Of course, it remains to be seen whether Arteta will continue with the young Englishman, when Hector Bellerin is fit but the way he was deployed was interesting and worthy of comment. You […]
Mikel turning Arsenal around – Emery looked to deny opponents, Arteta looks to maximise our players!
You can’t go back, but you can turn around Positives, Needs and Hopes Part way through the game I had a moment of sadness. I’d just seen Torreira win yet another tackle, Xhaka play another fizzer between the lines and Ozil pick it up in oceans. I should’ve been excited, but I started wallowing in […]