Some articles are saying Tierney and Bellerin possibly starting. We'll see.

For all you miserable, Emery out, folks. You Exits (get it? haha...I'll get me coat), its more than likely, Chelsea and Man Utd will be looking for managers before we will. Possibly Real Madrid as well if recent results are anything to go by. This will further reduce the number of candidates out there.
Speaking of which, and of course this is blasphemy, would Poch be a good fit for us? Imagine?! As a side note, what was the feeling like when Graham managed them?

Everbody loved it...especially Spurs fans.

My take on the Emery situation is basically that I have serious doubts about if he is the right guy for us now buts it’s very hard to make an argument that he shouldn’t be allowed till the end of the season to prove himself.

Let’s be honest if we had been offered 4th place after our run of games before the season we would have took it. What are people expecting ?

The whole problem though is there is little evidence of any form. Our play is slightly improved from Wengers final year but he hasn’t been able to find a logical midfield despite having many options and our defence is just as bad. Our strikers are saving our bacon every week with their impressive performances and he seems to adopt some very negative starting line ups for bigger games. It just doesn’t feel too great

No matter what anybody says I assure you that if we get top 4 Emery WONT be fired and I believe we are getting top 4 this year.

Liverpool have been fined £100k for fielding an ineligible player in the league cup. Not kicked out so we’ll play them at Anfield in the next round. We should play the younger players and tell them to attack them with no fear.

I read an article today wondering if Emery will go back to the back 3 at some point this season. I’m not a fan when he does it with passive wing backs and 3 holding mids but on paper it suits a lot of things.
Most of our CB are more comfortable in a back 3
Particularly Luiz who can be a deep playmaker - we haven’t had a player of his passing ability on defence for a while
Bellerin and Tierney could be fantastic wing backs with the ability to get up and down all day and 5-8 assists each a season
Still maintain a midfield 3 which can have flexibility with a No.10
Our strikers play as a pair rather than someone having to go wide - effectively getting our best players in the most dangerous areas

The downside is I’m not convinced the players know the system well enough and switching between them won’t help the organisation.....and it probably means 1 of Lacazette, Aubameyang, Pépé sitting out unless we went with a 3-4-3 formation which may be a bit light in the centre of the park

Saw that clueless article.

That formation doesn’t suit us at all and any team of having aspirations of winning the premier league shouldn’t play 3 centre backs.... especially if you don’t have much of a midfield backbone

Anyone watching Inter's passing from the back? Incredible so far

How do you manage to get booked after being substituted out?
Ask Sanchez.

There are artivles about the reduction of goals from Messi (and Ronaldo) and it appears to be lazy journalism. Its obvious his role 8s largepy playmaker/provider/quarterback. He creates so many goals around him. Also it saves his legs from having to do less running if he had led the line.

Soc
As promised I spoke to someone closer to this one than me, and the answer was that Martinelli has been unbelievable in training and has no respect for reputations; he is very physical and punishes any slackness from others. Emery likes this and sees value for the team in him training with the senior group, rather than playing him in the 23’s.

That personality is apparent on the pitch. He plays beyond his years. Tough kid.

worst transfers in EPL history. Oh, the memories. Arsenal has a couple on there. Can you guess without looking. Frankly, I think we should have had 4 or 5 on there.

https://www.stadiumtalk.com/s/worst-tra ... X0nqfgPLHQ

I can't stand him as a person but Suarez has moments of brilliance that is mind boggling.

Don’t know if people have seen Salzburg’s first goal but the worlds greatest CB absolutely taken apart. Maybe should look at the player who did it to see if he would be a good investment.

On top of losing Gnabry we also have Reine-Adelaide just signing for Lyon for €25m and Donyell Malen rearing things up for PSV and being touted as a £50m player.

It is too easy, and wrong, to say Arsenal could have got that money for those players. These guys dropped down a level, played regularly and then moved back up for big money.......but the absolutely dreadful thing for Arsenal is not having some kind of buy-back or sell-on clause. Even if we had 25% then you’d be making some decent money from these kids when they get their big move.

One of the problems I thought was that Wenger did not promote many players from the youth scheme towards the end of his rein. iwobi but Holding wasn’t really a youth player. So any young player did not see a much of a chance of getting many apppearances so they were more than happy to move

There are things about Emery I don’t like but his giving youth a chance is one of his great strengths and hopefully some of our talented young players might see a way forward and so resist the urge to move. I hope so.

It’s been one of the highlights of the season for me. To be honest, when I saw the team sheet against United I thought Emery wasn’t doing Saka any favours by chucking him in at the deep end like that, but Saka showed he’s more than ready for it. Looking forward to tonight’s game as if it was a real league game, even though it’s probably going to be a routine win against a small club. Will be really fun to see some of the young players have a go again.

Hi Hodd,

Thanks for making the enquiry, I appreciate the insight.

Sounds very promising. He's looked pretty tenacious in the games I've seen him play so far. He reminds me a little bit of Gianluca Vialli.

Not sure why he can't train with the seniors and still play the occasional u23 game just for a bit of match practice though.

I have to say he is ahead of Pépé in my assessment.

I think Martinelli can play either role effectively.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2019/10/03/a ... in-traini/
Arsenal boss Unai Emery comments on Gabriel Martinelli in training

I wonder why that guy at Dortmund went after Aubameyang? What prompted it. Especially so long after the transfer.

Going to wake up in the middle of the night to catch our young, brave, energetic and driven younger players. Looking forward to a more positive team.

Another Anelka?

I am angry at myself for being optimistic for the match tonight. I am trying to temper my optimism. Because I know I am often disappointed when I am confident going into a game and this side can screw up anything.

In the end I want the 3 points, no injuries and players coming back from injury to play well.

No Özil

Just seems ridiculous he’s not in the squad even if we want to sell him

Martinez, Bellerin, Tierney, Ceballos, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Mustafi, Nelson, Willock, Martinelli

Looks like AMN at right wing. No Özil in the squad at all

That's a team I'm going to enjoy watching.......

Rich, any idea who are on the bench?

As per arseblog:

Subs: Leno, Chambers, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Aubameyang, Pépé

found it:

Leno, Chambers, Kola, Guendouzi, Aubameyang, Pépé and the devil's spawn Xhaka.............

OGS's days are numbered.They couldn't beat Alkmar away......................

Probably ‘resting’ him again.

Looking forward to another solid Martinez performance. Another clean sheet please.

I really like the way Tierney is always looking for a player in the box and trys a cross if he’s in a wide position. Arsene would hate him

What a cracking goal!!!

Right on cue stunning cross Tierney

Martinelli!

Tierney assist.

You beaut................

Martinelli. Great header. Brilliant first assist from Tierney as well

And he does it again!!!