He's been amazing. Not enough threat thus far from other players. Both Pépé and Nelson guilty of powder puff efforts my gran would save let alone De Gea and let's not mention Ceballos' shot the ball boy is still fetching it.

I think he's too used to playing in France where he had a better run of things. Now he's against better opposition every week and it's suddenly not so easy, his confidence is taking a bit of a hit.

We'll see in another couple of months.

I'm just gonna say it damn it, yes, Henry had more pace, better touch, and a few other things in his locker better (and no slight as there are very, very few players who match Henry) but Aubameyang is just as lethal right now and in the end, scoring goals is what its all about. Doesn't matter how it gets in there.

What I'm trying to get my head around are Arsenal fans who expected to win tonight and in the same breath say we are poor, average, etc.....what?

I would put us as the better side for one reason only. The match was at OT. A notoriously tough place to play no matter what quality Man Utd put out. We outplayed them for large parts of the 2nd half on their own pitch. We played them fairly evenly in the first half.

It was for either side to win it, but both sides have glaring weaknesses. We seem like we will get better and better each week, while Man Utd seem like they are finished with the OGS experiment and go back to hiring the best managers money can buy.

When Lacazette is back, we will be much more effective going forward and the added benefit they enjoy playing together. Bellerin and Tierney will strengthen us immensely as well. Bellerin would have been much better at dealing with James.

I'm a cautiously optimistic about us this season. Largely because Tottenham seem as if they are regressing, and both Chelsea and Man Utd have managers who can't handle the job. If the planets align we could be 4th this season. I am expecting us to finish ahead of Man Utd, less optimistic about finishing ahead of Chelsea but we are managed better, yes, Emery is a better manager than Lampard. haha and with some luck, Tottenham will continue to under perform as compared to last season.

I am expecting (hoping) Pépé to get more aclimated, Saka and the other younger players to grow into their roles, Tierney to take hold of the position, Bellerin, etc.

Let’s see what Pépé is like when he has Bellerin behind him. He’ll get a lot more space for a start.

Also, I just don’t understand freezing out Özil when we’re crying out for some creativity. Aubameyang is lethal but he’s working on scraps at the moment.

Somehow Emery has to work out a way to get a creative mid in this team. If that means playing with 2 Holding mids who are under absolute strict instructions to protect the defence at all times then so be it.

Leno
Bellerin, Luiz, Holding, Tierney
Guendouzi, willock
Ceballos/Özil
Pépé, Aubameyang, saka

Finding a balance between Pépé, Aubameyang and Lacazette is also a challenge for emery.

The team looks good on paper but the reality thus far on the pitch is we are an average side consisting of a good goalkeeper (some good saves tonight) but protected by an unreliable comedy defence, a so-so midfield where only Guendouzi is showing promise (I'd add Willock into that category but he's not being selected) and a front line over-reliant on a top class striker where the main summer signing is looking absolutely dire at the minute. Saka looks a player but can't really rely on him to be consistent all season at 18. Also enjoyed Martinelli's cameo vs Forest.

As Socrates said, on the playing side the main cause for optimism at the minute is the return of Bellerin and Tierney which should significantly improve the full back positions although Bellerin's reputation has been enhanced by his absence. Holding's return could also be important. Hopefully two attacking fullbacks can improve the current dire gameplay.

The question is definitely out there over the quality of the manager. I can understand the starting line up tonight as keeping it tight against United away "under the lights" as Keane was going on about pre-match was a sound tactic and worked well. And credit is due for stepping it up after half time. But there really has been little sign of progress over the last year, we are too open at the back and predictable in attack.

Roy Keane took one look at our midfield line-up and one word summed it up, "lightweight". Not that I agree with all Keane says but when you fancy McTominey and friends against our midfield it is saying something. Leicester are a better side than us at the moment.

Well hey. Moved from 8th to 4th place. One point above Spurs, level points with WHU, MU, Chelsea still below us. Game didn't have that much intensity, but a draw is fine, especially after the VAR call for the goal to stand.
Expecting Özil to play Thurs. night in EL.

Outside of Liverpool and City, which PL sides are a certain 3 points for them? Home and away?

..I'd even say playing us on their home pitch, outside of Liverpool and City, which fans would see us as a definite 3 points? Even confident if not definite?

Awful tactics for their goal. Nil-nil at Old Trafford, half-time looming, and what do we see - 9 Arsenal players in or around the box for our corner and only one man back. They clear and within seconds 6 of those guys are stranded and the other 3 are desperately running back to join the lone defender. A better ball and United would have scored before McTominay's strike. Yes, you must attack at a corner, but with nine men just before half-time with the game even? That was very poor game management by the players.

Anyway, a draw was more than I expected, so not too bad a result.

See omoh, easy peasy draw.

But no win!

This is not good - replying to my own post. But shows the extent of my never ending fury. Anyway.....

Was at OT for that game and, from where I was sitting, was furious with Sol re the penalty.

On the horrible way home on the train, was with mate who was able to get Sky on his phone and we immediately (at about Stockport - what a dreadful dump) realised that Rooney had cheated.
Carriage full of Gooners and Cockney Reds. How it stayed relatively calm is still a mystery especially as we did our bit to share the footage with just about everyone around us.
Right, will post again in about ten years when I'm next allowed to watch it.[/quote]

I was at that game as well YG. I left seething but I never realised the full extent of the stitch up until I viewed a re-run some days later. I drove back with violent intent. Still have it. Bastrds.

But no loss.

Even during our imperious years, we were happy with coming away with a draw at OT. I doubt Liverpool or City would go there ahead of time and their fans be unhappy with a draw there.

Anyway, we performed above your expectations sir. Be happy!

Emery is fast becoming a "disliked" man. More and more are questioning his true abilities. His tactics is bemusing. His conservative approach is sad. Very sad for someone who gave me lots of hope when he started last season. What is happening?

Aubameyang was 3.3 metres onside last night! Last season that would have been disallowed. I can’t recall such a big margin of mistake on an offside for a long time, especially one where the linesman was perfectly positioned and the ball was played only a short distance and he only had the two players in his eye line that he needed to judge the offside. It was so bad

So we’re 4th after 7 having played 3 of our toughest games of the season. I’d say we’re 4th due to the struggles of Man U, Chelsea and spurs. Anyway, looking at our next 9 fixtures in the league there is a massive opportunity to go on a run. The 5 home games are all must win. Then the 4 away are sheff Utd, Leicester, Norwich, West Ham. None of those are easy and with our away form we could easily be winless in all 4 but we should be looking at a minimum of 2 wins and 2 draws from those 4.
If we come out of the next 9 with at least 7 wins we should put some distance between us and the rest

Don't think we were that bad last night, Old Trafford is a difficult ground and it turned out to be a pretty scrappy affair. Thought we looked more solid than we have for most of the season, but the creativity was lacking. Ceballos has been very hit and miss so far, but we need to get him involved soon with Özil seemingly in the doghouse.

Saka really is some talent, rose to the challenge and showed a lot of fight on top of his very obvious skill. We have a real player there.

The still images are perhaps a little unfair on the lino because Maguire is moving up quickly while Aubameyang is running towards the goal, but no way he should miss this. At least give the benefit of the doubt and let VAR sort it out, which is something we've seen implemented in pretty much every game so far.

I think it was an example of the Lino abdicating his responsibility to VAR

Just a ludicrous decision.

I think it is now clear that Emery is not the manager we hoped he would be. If we were proactive we'd be lining up his successor with a view to replacing him asap, even if that is mid-season.

Willock should be starting. His energy and box to box abilities are desperately needed.

I think Xhaka has to be left out now. His tackling is perhaps the clumsiest I've ever seen in a professional footballer.

Time to give others a go, but Emery seems to be obsessed with him.

We cannot go on relying on Aubameyang to get us out of trouble. The lad deserves to be in a far better team.

To be fair, I thought him and Guendozi had a good fighting performance last night, whereas Torreira was a complete passenger. Torreira just isn't suited to that forward role, he has good energy but no idea where to be or how to run.

I've mentioned it before, but that deep midfield position is for me our biggest concern after central defense. Guendozi, Willock and Ceballos shouldn't be playing there, because it limits what they're actually good at.

Both Xhaka and Torreira are pretty good in that role, but both have very obvious shortcomings too; Xhaka doesn't have the ability to manouver in tight spaces, and Torreira isn't good enough on the ball. For now I'd give Torreira a run there, but I don't have much hope we would improve much unless we make a signing.

His tackling is one thing but his lack of mobility is something else.

I have no idea what Emery is doing with the midfield. At times yesterday Torreira was assuming positions of a second striker. It’s iust clueless

I think the idea is to win the ball higher up the pitch rather than in front of the back four, to put more pressure on the opponent. I like it in theory, but based on what we've seen so far it's not working out. We do too much individual pressing, rather than doing it with the whole team like Liverpool and City and it's causing problems because a single player pressing is easy to get past and just leaves us a man short when we defend.

No he shouldn't. Doesn't look strong enough. Xhaka is here to stay in the midfield.

I think we will on what I have seen.

A big difference between us and at least United and Chelsea is that we have a lot more untapped potential, even if we haven’t looked impressive so far. Pépé and Ceballos have a lot more in their locker than they’ve shown so far, and players like Saka, Willock and possibly Nelson are just scratching the surface of their potential. I don’t see the same situation at all at United, and while Chelsea are expecting their young players to lead them we can integrate ours in a more natural way where they don’t have to be the difference makers every week.

You seriously want Xhaka to stay in the team?

I think Willock is stronger than he looks, based on the tackles he seems to win. He adds box to box capabilities and a goal threat that none of our other midfielders do.

Any midfield that doesnt contain at least 1 of Özil, ceballos or Willock is a midfield that simply won’t work. I’d possibly play even 2 of them.

One thing that irked me last night, was that Rashford only got a yellow for that challenge against Sokratis. It had all the markers of a sending off; he came in late, with speed, got none of the ball and had his studs up. Very bad challenge.

Imagine if Aubameyang got a long term injury. We would be so screwed

Also lindegard should have been booked in the first half and he would have got a second yellow.

First letter is pretty hard to argue with and as mad as it seems I wouldn’t turn down Rogers right now

https://www.football365.com/news/fourth ... -emery-out

I actually quite fancied Rogers before we got Emery. I know he's not the big name foreigner that fans seem to crave and so most dismissed him as a viable candidate. He's not especially charismatic, but he has experience of the PL and his teams play expansive high tempo football. He also seems a non-nonsense type.
My only reservation would be whether he could attract the players but then again Raul and Edu & co seem to deal with transfers anway.

It is really academic though, as that ship has sailed.

Indeed.

If I was Aubameyang I'd be looking to move somewhere that deserves his talents for the last few years of his career.

Am I right in saying he is yet to extend his contract?