Watched the firsts half of liverpool in the world club cup final or whatever it’s called. I recommend it, it’s on the bbc website, very entertaining. Flamengo, Rafinha in particular, are outrageous cheats! The referee has bought every snide move. Real panto stuff, which is appropriate at Christmas.

you're not wrong LTG ............. I've never seen a team so lacking in cohesion .

Anyone wanting to watch that again has serious masochistic problems .

We look like a bunch of individuals who've been bought at a church auction that ran from 10 am to 12 midday , given jerseys and chucked on the pitch

A log jam of misfits .... it's going to take a miracle worker to sort it out .

So I just watched a 24 minute highlight package of the match. It was like one of those matches that have been fixed. 0-0 gets both teams thru. Absolutely woeful. No cohesion, inability to pass & I can’t say I saw real effort except from Martinelli. Glad I didn’t stay up for this.

Frankly Ljunberg has been terrible & I can’t see how he can stay at the club if these were his ideas & impressions of what was needed & who are worthwhile players. His judgment is seriously lacking.

I didn't see the match today but I would have bitten your hand off for an away draw against an Everton side experiencing a new manager bounce....

a bit of the air had gone out of that bounce they were only marginally better than we were .

https://www.sparksport.co.nz/match/a8fe ... 1a2e5f7374

I like Arteta's style not over elaborate and gushy ...very matter of fact .

From yesterday's match:
Giving it all, spirited and very driven: Martinelli, Saka, Smith-Rowe (though not fully effective)
Positive: Xhaka
Neutral - Aubameyang, Chambers, Willock, Torreira, Leno
Poor - Nelson, AMN
Stank-the-place - Luiz, Lacazette

Hope Arteta saw what he needed to do. Smith-Rowe is all energy but could not find the players to unleash the final ball. He can be coached into a much better player.

Luiz is a lazy player. A few times he just stood and watch when we lost the ball, when a better player would have ran after the opposing player. Martinelli was nearby and was trying to get the ball back, and I think he did steal it back.

We need Saka to continue playing. His confidence is growing. He is much more direct with his play.

Lacazette is not interested. He used to give more to the team. He is simply going through the motion now. I think the same can be said about Aubameyang.

Martinelli is the most driven, and was even helping out the defence and midfield.

Torreira is still slow in delivering the important pass.

AMN is too lackadaisical in his style. If he can pull it off, fantastic. But, he can't and gets us into panic mode when he loses the ball. Hasn't had a proper pass into the box all day.

Nelson tries but cannot do it alone. He does not have the skills to make it happen. He needs a better & smarter right back to allow him an outlet.

Freddie was a fantastic player for us. Sadly, not ready to be the main coach for Arsenal. His tactics, or lack of, is not effective.

This playing out of the back needs to stop. We were nearly caught, again, towards the end of the game. I had thought Freddie would stop it after what he saw from Emery's tenure, but surprised he stayed with it.

It is frustrating to see the ball go back to defence, immediately after it was passed out of defence from this tactic. Xhaka and Torreira loves to give it back to the most available defender when they receive it. This is their first instinct. Very negative tactic.
And Luiz takes forever to pass it around. Our play has no urgency. Hope Arteta changes it.

http://www.redlondon.net/ljungberg-reve ... -saturday/

Nice one Freddie, stick it to Özil. And while at it, put Arteta in a tight spot about Özil. I agree with your approach. Given his present attitude towards the game, Özil needs to be out of Arsenal.

https://www.footballfancast.com/premier ... fer-arteta

IMO, Xhaka moving out is mutually beneficial.

So newspaper headlines today.
Arteta should have been in the dugout and it’s a poor start that he wasn’t
Ancelotti was understandably in the stands given he’s had such little time with the squad

Headlines from Lampard’s first game for Chelsea when they lost 4-0 to Man U
Lampard is going to need to be given time to get Chelsea playing how he wants (the headline was actually about Man U) but this bit about Lampard was the subtext

He needs moving on but he was good yesterday. Good positioning and lots of good defensive clearances.

I thought the most encouraging thing about yesterday was that five academy graduates participated in the game. Plus Martinelli of course.

To get five players from an academy into first team contention is an achievement.

The issue is that teams wanting to win major honours need their academy graduates to be elite PL players, hence why few teams at the top have many homegrown players in their starting elevens.

What we don't yet know is whether the five that participated yesterday have elite potential. I've no doubt they all have the capacity to have decent PL careers but
can they become top, top players.

Freddie said on motd he dropped players because they were not putting enough effort in againest City

Can only be talking about, Özil, Guendouzi and Pépé. I wouldn’t describe Pepes performances as lazy and last week he did seem to be trying to cover bit more but there must be a reason he’s not being used.

Problem we have is the players who are underperforming are the ones likeliest to win us points. Nelson and smith Rowe offered us zero creativity in the final third yesterday

Horse trading is required in the transfer market in January. Players who can offer a short term boost like arshavin did in the January window that time. Rumours that Özil could be loaned to fenerbahce and Xhaka sold to hertha Berlin for 25 million

The decision to drop ‘better’ players due to lack of effort and work rate is absolutely the right call. Even if it costs us points the correct standards need to be set, and younger players should be encouraged that the team will be picked based on attitude as much as ability. These are standards that have been let to slip for far too long at this club

Worth picking out Saka yesterday, an 18 year old left winger being asked to play left back in a dysfunctional defence and a team low on confidence and I think he did well. Made a couple of blocks and interceptions and got forward well. I doubt he’s a long term option at left back and I’ve seen senior players sulk and not perform when not played in their preferred position.

That’s fine and the right attitude but if that’s the decision then we will need to deal with the consequences of it.

We are 5 points off 17th in the league with a Boxing Day trip to the south coast followed by Chelsea and united. How many points can you see us getting from those games.

Nelson and smith Rowe aren’t gonna win us many matches. Need to move 2 of the underachievers on and get some new players in with a different attitude otherwise we will finish in the bottom half of the table for certain.

Not that Jenas is an Arsenal-hating *%^@, of course.

Or a smug nothing of a player know it all.

Can’t stand Jermaine Penus

If that doesn't coax Bernard back to the forum, nothing will.

Hi TG,

The Pépé omission is very strange, he's been our most dangerous player in recent weeks, albeit with the worrying capacity to try to dribble out of impossible situations in risky areas.

I can only assume he's not fully fit or has been going through the motions in training.

To play Nelson ahead of him was a major statement.

I'd certainly get rid of Özil and Xhaka but I think there has to be some incomings unless we give up on top four (even top six) and let the kids get the benefit of games in the remainder of the season.

Morning mate


This is the dilemma at the moment. It’s all very well saying ditch the underachievers and play kids but the kids won’t win you many matches surely. Many of them are promising but won’t provide many moments of match winning inspiration in the premiership

Palace who are below us have West Ham at home followed by saints in the next 2 games. You could easily see them picking up 4 points from those 2 matches, can you us doing like likewise ? Unlikely so we will probably drop another couple of league places in recent games.

The only way out of this spiral is if we can move players on and get a couple in also.

Maybe we could get Özil to tap him up for us?

By the way on Özil if it’s true Fenerbahce are trying to get him on loan there is likely to be a lot of negotiation around his wages as the 2 clubs barter over how much Arsenal will have to pay to get him off our books.

Dont surprised when he does his piece de resistance that was always going to happen and releases a media statement/Instagram/Twitter about how Arsenal are keeping him againest his will and he’s “imprisoned” or other such nonsense moaning about x,y,z the club haven’t done to force it through.

The RVP type statement will come from him at some point

Yup, and I did state he was a Positive for us yesterday. But his outburst and relationship with fans is a stigma which will come back to haunt him, when he has a bad game. Mutually better to cut ties now.

Cheeky! Goonie

Seven ..... The Arteta effect will see us beat Bournemouth , grab a draw with Chelsea

..and Man United ......I'm watching them v Watford at the moment ...... busy and direct but like a swarm of stingless bees ..... Rashford and Martial very blunt in attack .

Once Mikel fixes our tendency the f***^ around at the back and sticks a couple of Scuds up the arses of Lacazette and Aubameyang we'll be humming ...we'll beat United 3 - 1

Remember when Pep first went to City, he had them continue *%^@*** around at the back despite several calamities, until they got better at it, and also he had the personnel he wanted. I'd be surprised if Arteta had us hoofing it forward.

We simply can't play pressing football with Xhaka. We obviously need the midfield very mobile. We have 2 very good full backs, the wingers we use have pace, as well as upfront. Torreira gets around as well. That leaves Xhaka and Özil out.

I suspect you are right, and it doesn't bode well.

On the other hand, Chelsea and United are so unpredictable this season that anything is possible. Anyone can beat them on their off days, even us.

Hold on Watford.
A draw is best in the Tottenham match I guess. Weird weekend for Mikel and Jose.

I'm not expecting much from Arteta for the first 2 to 4 weeks. The games are coming fast and heavy this time of the season, so its not much time to change things visibly. This time around is all about squad rotation so as not to get fatigued as you are playing more matches often in inclement weather.
January is where I hope to see visibly changes to tactic and who is on the pitch. I really hope we go into transfer market in January. It's much needed.

I'm watching the match and the club honored Martin Peters so I had to look him up. Seems he played most of his career and was known more for playing for West Ham rather than Tottenham but all thesame.

Chelsea spanking the spuds. Faster to every ball, slicker passing better awareness. 0-2.

Seems Chelsea fans are getting the last laugh so far for Jose going to Tottenham. Still another half, anything can happen.

Correct

Also not forgetting

Guardiola has spent over 1.307 billion euros and 513.1 million euros on defenders In particular

Look how many defensive players and keeper he signed in 2017! I believe the hype he’s a good coach but that’s got to have a massive impact


https://www.marca.com/en/football/inter ... b45db.html

Lampard wins the 'former player managing his old club' contest.

Come now, there are limits to what I’m prepared to believe.

There are 3 former players managing their old cubs now. One may not be a manager much longer though.

By that post you seem to think there are only two ways to play the game .....f8**&&around or hoofing .

What about "zipping " ... i.e . decent accurate passing to people on the move , getting at the other defence at speed as lot of teams have done to us in the last year or so .

Mikel could instill that ....?

Might cancel the draw with Chelsea though just watched the highlights v Spurs . the Blues look formidable .

In light of Mourihno's comments about inexperienced Arteta getting our job ..... take that you mouthy Portuguese t***&&^%$ ....concentrate on your own team a bit more .

Four .... Ferguson , Arteta , Lampard and Ole Gunnar