In the land of the blind, the man who only blocks 90% of incoming information is king.

Interesting , who would of thought it ?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... y-football

What shall we use
To fill the empty spaces
Where we used to talk?
How shall I fill
The final places?
How should I complete the wall?

In any case, Čech's form is very pleasing. He was great yesterday.

Have you seen what Čech says about Wenger in the Guardian? It somehow doesn't come as a surprise.

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/20 ... y-football

It is very good to hear things are getting more rigorous.
The first job of the team should be to do what it takes to actually win.
Personally I enjoyed some of the backs to the wall wins under George Graham - Parma springs to mind - as much as the wins playing beautiful football Wenger's best sides achieved.

I think Čech's comments are standard fare player b%*&s%*^. The new manager is great blah blah blah. We haven't been playing well and it's moments of brilliance from our forwards that have largely won us points. We have had a really easy run of fixtures and the only game that we comfortably navigated was in the Europa Cup.

Čech himself played very well yesterday. The fact that it was our first clean sheet doesn't exactly reflect a team with a new found resilience.

Yep, whilst Wenger got more problematic over time, you really have to get the old air brush out to forget the trophies he won and teams the he put together. A fraud he was not. I’ve seen literally nothing yet in our performances that points to any real improvement so far, but that’s fine and I wouldn’t really start to judge it till the second half of the season, time will still tell.

The thing is dec, are Čech's comments not true? Watching Arsenal over the last years of Wenger's reign made me think exactly the same thing.

I actually think you're being a little over-negative. You've previously said words to the effect that we haven't played well this season (you probably recall your exact words better than me; perhaps it was 'we have not been good', or something like that). But I'm pretty damn certain that whatever your exact words, you said it more than once.

For me each game has been a mix of good and bad. So if we haven't been good, I'd suggest we haven't been bad either. We've lost the two games we were probably expected to lose and won the five we were probably expected to win. Moreover, this season I don't think City outplayed us to the extent they did at the Emirates and Wembley last season. We also missed sitters at Stamford Bridge, so better finishing could have changed that result.

Cazorla was probably right. Turning things around after so long under Wenger wasn't going to happen overnight, or do you consider that standard fare player b%*&s%*^ as well (or ex-player in Cazorla's case)? For me things are moving in the right direction. I said our five wins have been in games we were expected to win. Would we have beaten both Newcastle and Cardiff away if Wenger was still in post? I obviously can't prove it as it's simply an opinion, but my view is we wouldn't.

There's various things that need working on at Arsenal. Yet Emery's interviews suggest to me that he's fully aware of that. I also see that as a positive.

Agreed. Happy with the wins and some of the attack looks a bit crisper and sharper at times. But on the flip side, aside from seeing Sokratis improve a little bit, the rest of the team's defensive mindset and shape when without the ball doesn't appear to have changed. Not a judgement as it will take time but in another month or 2 I'm hoping that we'll at least start to see some sort of recognisable change in the defensive side.

He is getting what he deserves

Fair enough if you think I'm being overly negative. I don't think I am. We haven't put in a good 90 minutes of football yet. We've had some very poor opening halves ' West Ham, Newcastle, Everton and quite frankly haven't defended well in a single game. We've been very lucky, which I welcome, but talk of a new-found resilience is just players bigging everything up.

But if not playing a good 90 minutes of football means we haven't been good in your eyes, surely not playing a bad 90 minutes means we haven't been bad either? We've had some poor first halves, but had some good second halves as well. From that, I don't share your view that we've been very lucky. On balance I reckon we've deserved to win every game we have, as well as deserving to lose the two games we have.

The defensive side of our game definitely needs work, but I thought the defensive display at Newcastle was largely impressive despite conceding an injury time goal. Philip Neville said on MOTD2 that if he was an Arsenal fan he'd be excited by the way things are going. I am an Arsenal fan, and I do feel excited by the direction we're heading.

So on Sunday I used my friends Club Level ticket. Needless to say there is no atmosphere there, but what was indicative of that fact was the 2 blokes sitting next to me were more interested in live streaming the golf on their phone than the match. The guy with the phone I don't think even lifted his head up towards the pitch. However, his indifference to the game was kind of justified when after half time he returned to his seat very happy indeed, and was talking to his mate about how to spend his £1500 winnings from the golf he had been watching! They also left 12 mins from the end.
Obviously club level isn't the best place to draw sweeping conclusions about Arsenal fans, but there is an unescapable sense that many who sit there simply aren't as engaged as you would expect a 'real' supporter to be. I guess that's what happens when you increasingly market the club to those with deeper pockets and also tourists (look at the adverts in the Underground). Unfortunately Club Level indifference acts as a ring of sound insulation, discouraging the lower tiers attempts at singing spreading upwards.
I know I'm not saying anything new but I feel sad that Arsenal (and the Premier League) have drifted further and further away from the original fan base who supported their teams during the non profitable times, and are increasingly replaced by club shop tourists and people who think popping down to watch Arsenal is something to do rather than something they must do.

I think we were a mess last year and Čech and many of the players knew it. We all saw it let’s be honest.

I agree that we haven’t been playing brilliantly. In many of the games we are making subs at half time because the structure is visibly wrong and we are also struggling to get going in the first half of matches.

What I would say is that you can’t say Emery is doing either superbly or badly right now. We have won all our games except the 2 ones we expected to lose. I personally would have took that at this stage given our mess last year. There is however evidence to suggest were are going to be more competitive this year as players seem slightly less complacent to me.

I would just take this season for what it is and try and enjoy it as we won’t get in the top 4 but we may look a decent cup side this year.

There are a growing number of Man Utd fans who say that Sanchez has turned out be a bust based on expectations. Question of the day. Did Man Utd get taken in the deal in hindsight? Not that our Armenian is going to threaten Henry's goal scoring record anytime soon, but overall, did Man Utd lose out? We did. Sanchez was a very effective player for us but this not about us but Man Utd.
I know ever time I watch them play and he's playing I'm hoping he plays badly.

I think the attendence thing is bad PR for the club. For many games there’s tons of empty seats these days. Maybe the way forward is to sell less season tickets and have more general admission at a lower cost to bring the fans and interest back.

Having a decent team helps a bit too

Agree on the tourist thing but the price of tickets has drove people away and Wenger too. It would seem inconceivable someone like exiled would give up his season ticket given his bond with the club but he’s not alone. I think many fans now genuinely now wished we never left Highbury rather than throwing it on as a controversial comment

Brentford are one of only five teams that Arsenal have played in domestic competitions at least ten times that have beaten us more often than we have beaten them. Even if we win tomorrow that won't change as Brentford have beaten Arsenal two more times than Arsenal have beaten Brentford.

OVERALL RECORD: PLAYED 12, ARSENAL WINS 3, DRAWS 4, BRENTFORD WINS 5.

The other four teams that have beaten Arsenal more times than Arsenal have beaten them are, in alphabetical order, Liverpool, Manchester United, Notts County, and Walsall.

Source: the BBC.

I think Ian Wright’s comment on Sanchez today was spot on.

At some point somebody is going to make a business decision and sell him. You can’t pay a player who hasn’t scored since March 390k a week basic. Apparently in that new pretentious Man City documentary they discuss the transfer and decided it didn’t represent good value. They were right

Seems arsenal got a bad deal because we got a worse fee, man united got a bad deal because they over paid and Sanchez despite getting a shedload of cash got a bad deal because he will likely end his career in a place that doesn’t suit him.

Just another example of too much money in the game ruining it.

Just read this ..

Arsenal are two points better off than this time last year and have earned five more points in the corresponding fixtures (Stoke have been replaced by Cardiff for comparison purposes). The Gunners lost at Newcastle and the Potters last season.



Points after six games in 2018-19 - 12

Points after six games in 2017-18 - 10

Points from corresponding fixtures 2017-18 - 7


He’s not made a bad start all things considered. He inherited Wengers squad missing its captain at the moment and the clubs obsession with Broccoli

Man U losing 2-1 to Lamberts Derby ! min plus extra time left.

Could it be Mourinho's last game?

Hope not

Bugga they equalised

I took my son to see Charlton-Plymouth last Saturday. He reckoned it was 'more fun' than going to see Arsenal, there was a 'better atmosphere' (crowd of about 10000 including 1000 noisy carrot crunchers from Plymouth) and he made me buy him a Charlton training top in the club shop after the match.

Charlton won 2-1, the winner coming very late, the place went ballistic and there was no sign of anybody watching golf.

United out . Thought you'd jinxed it there!

PAHAHHHAAHHHAAAAHHHAAA!!!

This was my reaction when I heard after the Utd loss in which Pogba didn’t play f%&$#n Mr. If I was an ice cream I’d lick myself to death, says “Pogba is no longer club vice captain. He will never captain another game for United” due to his ‘Poor attitude’

Mourinho has *%^@*** lost it!!! What the *%^@ is he playing at??!!

He just started “it’s me or him” with the clubs Marquee player. Unless he knows Pogba is out the door which can’t happen for minimum another 3 months... what??!!

He’s simply trying to get himself fired so he can get his contract paid off. He’s done it at every club he’s been at practically. Over for him at United

From the Manchester evening news:
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... t-15106094



I guess if it quacks like a duck...

The talk is Mourinho may not make it past the calendar year. I would love to see him go, Man Utd fall into decline and Sanchez booed off the pitch.

If you could read the posts above yours because you hadn’t blocked everyone it would help you frickin lemon

Great see the Labour Party today get to grips with the major issue facing our country right now........... Palestine

Leno, Lichtsteiner, holding, mustafi, Monreal, elneny, guendouzi, iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Smith-rowe, Welbeck

Strong team.
Martinez, Bellerin, ramsey, Kolasinac, Nketiah, Torreira, Lacazette

Leno, nearly a howler. A regulation back pass is somehow fluffed or missed and it goes out for a corner. If the backpass was ‘on target’ that’s 1-0

Welbeck !

Welbeck 1-0. Great header from a short corner

Iwobi clearly tripped in the box, VAR is available but nothing done? Don’t understand that, the defender was nowhere near the ball, he made contact with iwobi and he impeded iwobi drum enough that iwobi stumbled down and lost possession. Nonsense.

Mike Dean the ref by the way

Most of our play coming down the left with Monreal/Smith-Rowe/iwobi combining well.
Mkhitaryan has a good chance of he could have controlled the ball he was 1v1 8 yards out but did that very non pro footballer thing of the inadvertent touch off the standing foot

How easy is it to hate Mike Dean?

In the last 5 mins mike dean has
Denied arsenal a nailed on pen
Given a throw to Brentford when Guendouzi was clearly fouled after clearing the ball
Booked Lichtsteiner for a fairly normal foul on the touchline

He just always needs it to be all about him

2-0 arsenal. Welbeck
That is as good a team goal as you’ll see this season

Penned in our left back area we work it back to Leno who chips it wide right to Lichtsteiner who wins a brave nod down header to Mkhitaryan who turns inside his man brilliantly and is breaking at pace, he feeds iwobi who travels with it and holds on long enough for Monreal steaming up on the overlap, first time square pass for a Welbeck tap in.

That’s how you profit from being able to play out from the back against a high press.

Emery was smiling from ear to ear

He was absolutely chuffed wasn’t he

Absolutely down to his change in policy