Are We Taking The High Road Or The Low Road?
Nov 2nd, 2018 by 'holic
It would appear that we have reached something of a fork in the road. Thirteen games undefeated, twelve of them won, and all the time we have been told we are beating teams we should be beating. Wait until Liverpool has been the warning from a section of the support. They have a point, of course, and now we are to measure ourselves against a team that has been improving over the course of three years under Klopp. Us being just three months into the reign of Emery.
The visitors share the lead of the Premier League with Manchester City and we now trail them both by four points after the draw at Selhurst Park. Defeat would not be a season-ending disaster but you can be sure there will be much angst on social media if we do lose. Similarly victory will not be any sort of guarantee for the rest of the season. It would however satisfy the new manager’s desire for improvement with every passing game.
The main concern on the eve of the match is what sort of back four we will be able to put out. Hector Bellerin, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nacho Monreal, and Sead Kolasinac all face late fitness tests and it’s fair to say that three of those would be preferred starters. Worse case scenario would be Bernd Leno starting behind Stephan Lichsteiner, Skhodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, and Granit Xhaka.
That would probably see a recall for Aaron Ramsey alongside Lucas Torreira behind an unchanged quartet of Alex Iwobi, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Alexandre Lacazette.
The main task facing the manager will be filling that makeshift back four with confidence to get the ball forward at a fast tempo to beat the high press that a Klopp team will undoubtedly bring. To be fair we haven’t shown too often in the first-half of matches that we have that in our locker. Achieving that tomorrow, and scoring the first goal, would send a huge message out to our other rivals for at least a top four finish.
The scousers are undefeated in the League sharing Manchester City’s record of eight wins and two draws. They were held at Chelsea and at home by City. They did however beat the Middlesex Nomads at Wembley.
The ‘holic pound
If we are to triumph I do believe we will have to outscore them in a high-scoring contest. Therefore I have split the pound on 3-2 at 28/1 and 4-3 at 100/1. Crazy? Probably, but I will be on the bubbles if either of them come in.
Art of Football teeshirt winner
Congratulations to @AntiSocial_Joe who got lucky in the draw. You will love the quality of your prize.
I hope to see a few of you at the match and as ever wish you all a good one, ‘holics.
83 Responses to “Are We Taking The High Road Or The Low Road?”
Evening H
Pool have only won 2 of last 18 league games away to us.
Having said that,we haven’t beaten then in past 6 home or away.
I must admit i will fall over if we beat them.
They are clearly the real deal this season.
At this early stage of our development,if we emerge with a point i will be more than happy.
I won’t be taking my place at THOF tomorrow.
Today underlined the priorities in my life as Mrs TTG was blue lighted to the Cardiac Ward with a suspected heart attack . She is feeling better but will need lots of care over the next few weeks and Football somehow doesn’t seem that important at the moment.
I wish us well tomorrow
TTG. Huge sympathies and best wishes to you and Mrs TTG. May she get well soon.
ttg, sorry for what must have been a terrible, terrible day. i hope you find strength in those that surround you and care about you and mrs. ttg, and that she finds her strength in every fibre of her body. i’ll be thinking of you these weeks; having my wife be badly ill is one of my deep fears in life.
so much lower in priority: i saw we’ve averaged 5.4 goals in games with the scouse over the past few years (don’t remember the timeframe), so i am with you on the 3-2 punt (not that i can punt it, but i’m betting in my mind on that score). 4-3 would indeed be crazy.
we’ve got 7 defenders on the injured/late test list. yikes.
highest priority: get well soonest, mrs. ttg!!
Very sorry to hear your news TTG, I wish
Mrs TTG the very best of recoveries over
the next few weeks.
Wishing Mrs TTG the very best for a speedy recovery.
TTG.
Sorry to hear your news. My best wishes and thoughts with Mrs TTG. Everything crossed for a speedy recovery. My thoughts also with you fella. Tough times that will hopefully become a lot easier very quickly.
Nice preview H. Saturday will be a real test and an opportunity to see how far we have, or haven’t come. Our first choice defence worries me. One that is devoid of many potential first choice starters really worries me. I think the likes of Torriera may well be asked to do more than he has in any match so far.
There’s no reason at all why we can’t get a result tomorrow. But we will need to be on our game. Big players need to produce.
For those going, enjoy. I will be attempting to watch the game in a pub in south west London. However, that maybe curtailed if the planned South West Trains strike kicks in. Hopefully, any problems traveling home will be made all the worthwhile with us celebrating a good victory.
I’d put 50p on that 4-3 scoreline if I had 50p in my pocket but I can’t see us conceding any fewer than the 3.
And all the best to TTG and the missus at this surely very difficult time. Hoping for a full and speedy recovery.
Oh TTG, our thoughts are with herself right now. Keep me in the loop please. Everything crossed. ??
Everyone’s kind thoughts are hugely appreciated. Thankyou so much
Jeez, TT. Best of luck to Mrs G.
Thanks for the preview Guvnor.
Any kind of result will be welcome.
I think 100/1 on 4-3 a good bet, really
the traditional 1-0 to The Arsenal should
be 100-1 with our likely defence.
I think Auba may be on the bench though
after starting midweek. UE may want better
defensive cover for this one. I hope not as
I think him and Ozil having blinders is our
best shot at victory.
So sorry to see the news of Mrs TTG. May I raise a glass with all the regulars of this fine establishment to her full recovery.
Thanks as always to the guv’na for a fine preview. With the current Arsenal I fear for the worst & hope for the best – it’s all on the day. If the 4-3 comes in, our proprietor will have to move on from the Tolly to savour some vintage Dom Pom ?.
Cheers H.
Never mind football. As the boss has observed – it’s the most important of the unimportant things.
All real thoughts go straight to Mrs TTG. She actually matters.
And best wishes to TTG.
If the gunners play and pass and pass ,believe me they will lose.Wenger used to play this way all the time and as a result the gunners are bottom of the 6 team table form 2015 onwards.
This style is predictable and make the defenders so much easy.
All they have to do is wait and the rest is history including big losses.
Now why cant the gunners play like the 3-0 win over MU a few seasons back.
Of course everybody must be alert.Pool are favourites on account of their better defence.There is no reason why the gunner s cant puta spanner in the Pool goal machine.
Thats what some teams do to flood the md and stifle the goal threat.
There is no reason why the gunners cant win. A 1-0 score line will do.
Zaha ran at the gunners and cause all kinds of problems.Thats why we need Iwobi or any other gunners to run the Pool defenders.
This twisting and turning cause defenders to go back pedaling and in some cases fall resulting in an opportunity for agoal.
I would like to see the gunners pass/dribble and inject speed in the attack to catch defences off guard.Too much passing is predictable .
TTG@2: Hope all is as well as it can be in the circumstances. Best wishes for Mrs T to be back on the mend as soon as possible. My glass raised to her, indeed to you both, with Uply@15.
As Clive said, a point against Liverpool wouldn’t be a bad result. If we do win, my gut says it will be a gritty 1-0 rather than a rip-roaring 4-3. My worry is that, like Steve T, we play a makeshift defence that gets a pasting.
My very best wishes to your missus, TTG, hope she’s better soon.
Having recently watched my wife go through an op and radiotherapy sessions, I know just how you’re feeling.
Football doesn’t matter, but beating the bin dippers would still be great!
My thoughts and prayers for you TTG. I pray that your wife gets well.
Best wishes to you and the missus, TTG.
My thoughts with you Monsieur TTG & your Madame. Hope she recovers in time to keep everyone happy again.
Thanks Guv’nor for the preview. Am good with a win. I’m of the school of thought that the draw at Selhurst park was a decoy to unleash football terror on Kloop’s men.
We can have a fantastic win with or without the key defenders. Overload the MF and cut supplies to their frontline.
COYG!
COME
ooooon!
Left back is a dodgy looking choice and I hope Ozil turns up against a big team for once. Him and Henry Micky both need a big performance today.
TTG, sorry about Mrs.TTG’s health. Hope she makes a speedy and complete recovery.
I will be happy if we play well today and would be on top of the moon if we win by any margin.
Would be good for a change for us to win the first half ?
We are playing well against a top side. Great to see. Absolutely cracking match so far.
UTA
We had a good first half for a change. Need to keep up the good work.
exciting first half. mistakes by both sides, but we were abjectly lucky on mane’s offsides and van dijk’s post. tees.
fun stuff!
not sure what tees means.
My thought and very best wishes to Mrs. TTG, Hope she makes speedy recovery.
If the rules say that that Mane strike should count then I disagree. He affected play when Mustafi stepped up to catch him offside. And he was ahead of Mustafi to get to Firmino’s rebound first because he started in an offside position. He gained a clear advantage from being offside. The rules are daft.
In my view Mane was rightly tagged offside. In fact, he should have been flagged offside soon as he ran towards the ball with Firmino as he was active from an offside position.
In the other play where Van Dyke headed the ball against the post, he looked offside to me.
Best wishes to Mrs. TTG for a speedy recovery and to you TTG for staying strong in what will be a testing time for you.
Has been an absolutely cracking game so far and it has been fantastic to watch us have a go at Liverpool. This team can match anyone in attacking strength and Emery has got them well drilled for this big game. Xhaka has already made a fantastic tackle and Ozil has been up for it and already had a couple of fantastic moments. Beautifully poised at the beginning of the second half…
Mikhi doesn’t feel 100%, maybe Iwobi time?
Shit, all the good work goes waste. Lucky pool.
Gutting. What a rubbish goal to concede after so much hard work.
Leno needs to work on coming out, face to face he’s good, shame…
Unlucky to be behind but we’ve had two or three attackers go missing second half and have created very little.
HM7 off please.
But why Auba off? For Ramsey????
My hat off if this works, highly doubt it
Boom shaka LAKA boom
GET IN!
Don’t care how it ends, we are good, we are back
Well done boys, soooo pleased tonight. Only a win would have topped it ?
We looked very good. I’m thrilled with that performance.
My throat is quite sore. I went a bit nuts when Laca scored.
what a game that was. well played, boys.
gsd, i scared the shit out of our cat (sorry, maddie) who was asleep on the couch next to me when laca scored.
she still is lying in her bed, back to me, won’t answer when i call her!
I had to miss the last few minutes but am so glad touear we came back valiantly. Agree with Cynic that Mkhi was poor
Proper team performance that with Mustafi half decent for a change. Holding and Torreira our best players on the day. Thought our attacking four were largely disappointing after about half an hour and didn’t create anything much but Liverpool were pretty poor and offered nothing in the second half.
A point probably ok, we probably should have won but could have lost.
And if that Liverpool goal had stood in the first half, the ref would have been a prick. BT insisting it’s a goal because Peter Walton, of all people, says it was is pathetic. He’s offside on the ball forward and affects the play by gaining an advantage on the defender because of that half yard, so eat my balls, BT
Great game and with a little luck we could have won. Really well played boys and UE. Very happy overall. No one gave us a chance but it was nice to see the pundits grudgingly concede we played great.
Scruz, That is poor on style points. Never scare the shit out of the cat.
Happy b’day Unai. Your energy is a joy to watch.
Not bad from a team written off at the start of the season.
bt, i know. i never like to scare the cat!
We are back and how!!
And Emery was fantastic on the touchline – gung ho with passion, and of course with the way he had the team charged up for the game and I think he got the changes right too….
And to top it off it has forced Shearer and Sherwood (what a disgusting choice of pundits for such a big game) to praise us!! Although they couldn’t avoid mentioning the Mane offside goal at the end but after their over enthusiasm about Liverpool before the game, it was fantastic to see them all sombre at the end.
The Emirates crowd too played it’s part and it was fantastic hear their boisterousness on the TV – the grove sounded like the fortress it should be. Excited for the rest of the season… COYG
Well worth the point, though we might have had all three if one of the early chances had gone in. Regardless, a display that can be taken as confirmation that the Emery project is making progress.
It was a bit of a cat and mouse game tactically, but Emery had the team set up to blunt Liverpool’s main threats and then adjusted well when we had to chase the game. Klopp didn’t manage to out fox him at any point.
I liked the attitude immediately after the Liverpool goal, with Mustafi geeing everyone up to get straight back at it. We haven’t seen that in many a season.
Xhaka played well today, especially in the first half. Torreira was terrific throughout. His only blip was to shoot straight at Becker when he was through. Holding looked solid and was unlucky to deflect Leno’s pushed save into Milner’s path for the goal. Even Mustafi put in a shift without any howlers. But the whole team did well.
The strapping on Bellerin’s right thigh looks very heavy, and I assume he was shot full of painkillers. He seemed to start out very gingerly. I hope he is not being set up for a long-term injury.
Laca’s finish was top notch and he needed a goal like this in a crunch game against a top side…
We have been hugely touched by your kindness. What a lovely group of regulars we have in this great bar! Mrs TTG has had a much more comfortable day but they have yet to finally reach a diagnosis .
As for the game I’m with GSD. I watched the game with a more detached mindset at home for obvious reasons and I was so proud of the team. We thoroughly deserved a point today and I could see today the way Emery has improved this team. I thought Torreira, Xhaka ( best game I’ve seen him have ) , Holding, Lacazette and Iwobi when he came on we’re terrific. Mustafi was very decent. Leno is a big improvement on Cech- except on crosses ! Premier League football has improved so much in quality. This was obvious tonight as was the fact that we are one of the very best sides in this league….and will improve
ttg, glad mrs. ttg is resting comfortably. and that you could watch the game, even to get your mind in to something else for a bit. take care!
Good to hear of Mrs TTG’s progress. Hope it keeps up. Trying times for you both.
Mer son must be puking ?? poor sod.
Auba did not look happy at being subbed, even if it was not as demonstrable as Ozil last week, but I take that as a good sign of the spirit that Emery has instilled in the side.
Like Gunner_KS@41, I thought taking him off was a gamble. You want you goal scorers on the pitch to the death. He was quiet second half, true; but he is the sort of forward who can score out of the blue. I guess Emery wanted to shore up the midfield as Liverpool were getting on top, hence bringing on Ramsey, knowing that if we went two down the game would probably be beyond recovery.
Glad Laca scored as he has not been able to buy a goal lately.
Merson
TTG. Glad to hear some positive news. Best wishes etc.
The game for me hinged on defences. The fact is that there’s was better than ours. Great performance and if we had been able to take any of the chances that we had made then we would have won the game.
Draw for me was a fair result. Lots of positives as well.
Onwards and upwards.
What a great game of football. Should have had all 3 points but would have taken a point beforehand. My dog was more scared by the 2 adults and 3 kids celebrating Lacca’s goal than she is of the fireworks !
I honesty don’t have any complains except that Auba started. If he started from the bench, I think the result would have been 2-1 or even 3-1. But I can understand Emery was trying to shut critics who think Arsenal can’t play in the first half.
Progress it is, unto the next one. 14 unbeaten.
I’m glad Merson’s stupid prognosticators werenot correct . He really is a tool
Reiss Nelson keeps delivering for Hoffenheim, a cracker at that, 3rd youngest bundesliga scorer of 5 goals, behind one Podolski lad by a 10 days or so.
Good to hear Mrs TTG is recovering.
Hope it goes smoothly from here.
Sadly, due to technical problems – I was
completely drunk and fell asleep before the 2.30AM
kick off – I missed the game but a decent
result.
I’ll watch now knowing it’s a happy ending 😉
If Wolves were able to compose themselves in front of goal Spuds would be buried here.
That was an impressive display, one that will serve us well in the weeks to come. A fair result, one that either side could feel they could have won but have to concede that the other guys would feel justified thinking the same.
Van Dijk makes a world of difference for them compared to what they’ve trotted out there before. Put him in an Arsenal shirt behind Torreira and the defense would be stellar, though Mustafi and particularly Holding were solid. Both keepers look to be cut from the same cloth — great shot stoppers but prone to go walk about at inopportune times.
Decent performance as Jean says.
Pleased for Laca to get an important
goal in a big game. Torreira was a
great buy. Kola is an iffy defender.
Nothing we didn’t already know I
suppose. Important to win our next
PL game and get back to collecting
the 3 points.
Massive strides being made some of the passing from the back out to avoid the press was a joy to watch are we anywhere near the finished article No are we improving Yes. Is it fun again not Arf, Big props to
those who decided Dick was the man, he lives and breathes the
games and has done wonders in such a short time. We are playing as a unit will wonders never cease 😉
Up The Arse,
Something seems to be going right up the Arse, and somebody deserves credit. UE sounds like a likely suspect.
That was a top, top game of football.
Liverpool are a fantastic side- their defence and attack are both outstanding and they don’t have obvious weaknesses. And we stood up to them and went toe-to-toe with them. At no point did we buckle or crumble, not even when they scored a goal that would have hurt after such a great performance up until that point (and one that would have felt all too familiar to most of our players).
But again we came back, showed courage and heart, and perhaps most importantly, we stuck to our guns and played with calm heads, following the tactics laid out by the manager. For that we got our well-deserved reward.
I am so, so proud of that performance. We were excellent in many areas where we are used to seeing us make mistakes and fail to match the other top teams. The OTHER top teams. Make no mistake, we are one of the best teams in this league. We will definitely get a top four spot, and although beating Man City, and possibly Liverpool, over 38 games may be a bridge too far in Emery’s first season I won’t be at all surprised if we can get third.
The players should take a huge amount of confidence from the game. That will really help them to believe in the transformation that Emery is shaping, and to know that they are undoubtedly a more steely, tough side than we have been for a long time.
Emery. What can you say? What an inspired choice to replace Le Boss. I love the guy. His energy transmitted through the team and the crowd. The players were well up for the fight. The crowd was absolutely magnificent. The whole club was together and on the front foot. Emery has lead the changes that have brought that about and yesterday felt like a watershed moment to me. We are together. We are Arsenal. We Believe.
On the actual match we had a team full of brilliant performances. Hard to single anyone out when the standard was so high but special mention for Holding, Torreira, Xhaka- and Mustafi had one of those games where things were all coming off for him and he had a big impact.
I agree with Chippy that watching us play out from the back against possibly the best press in the league was a pleasure. We looked so calm and confident. Both our centre backs passed the ball very well. The midfield dropped back in when they needed to and we escaped the press over and over again. We have improved in that area much faster than I was expecting and I hope a lot of the ‘just hoof it away’ brigade could see yesterday the value of not doing just that.
The substitutions worked well. I especially liked the Iwobi for Kola sub as it redressed a lopsidedness that occured when Auba came off. I’m really pleased for Laca scoring a goal in such a big game. And what a goal it was. He is just a super quality striker.
Overall, three points would have been great, and not totally undeserved, but I’m really happy with a point, especially coupled with the performance that earned it. I am not sure we have got our Arsenal back. I think we are witnessing the early growth of a brand new Arsenal. I am excited to see how we develop and quite how good we can be. If we carry on like we are then I think we might become very good indeed.
UTA
The sub was Welbeck for Kola, wasn’t it? It dropped Iwobi into the left-back slot though, which was an inspired move and from there he got the assist for Laca.
That was a truly excellent and uplifting performance. I haven’t come away from a game with such a sense of positivity for many years. I hope that we can keep up that level of performance for the rest of the season. If we can, then I believe that we will be a serious challenger on all fronts.
Well done Unai. Marks out of 10 for immediate impact: 9.5.
GSD @75, I hadn’t checked the back drinks before I laid my meagre effort on the table. I find that you have eloquently summed up exactly how I feel about this game, our top performers (the Xhaka and Mustafi performances may possibly surprise the haters; I simply love wee Torry; Holding grows by the game), this team’s prospects and El Jefe. Thank you.
TTG@2, I have ony just read this bad news about Mrs TTG having a possible MI and that by #58, Mrs TTG is more comfortable though the diagnosis is not yet defined.
I wish a speedy recovery for Mrs TTG and fortitude for your good self (which I know you will find in abundance).
The Wife of Bath (I used to use the acronym WoB until it was hijacked by an unworthy group of supporters) had an MI in 2010 and is again hale and hearty with no sequelae or chronic problems and is every bit as troublesome as she always was!
All the very best, sir.
I agree with so much of the above, and especially GSD’s post at 75. It was a thrilling game and at last we put in 90 minutes of top effort. Torreira, Xhaka, Bellers, Laca all huge.
The crowd were so up for it. The day started by having to queue to get into the Tolly. I’ve never known that before. From the queue I spotted the landlord, standing on the pub side of the railings without a care in the world, pint of Guinness in hand. I greeted him briefly – he looked in a good place.
In the stadium, the crowd were totally up for it. After the delirium of Laca’s worldy, the biggest roar was for Torreira’s crunching double tackle. We like a crunching tackle on the North Bank and haven’t seen enough of it recently. I love our little Uraguayan. He’s a great find. The other impressive thing was that when they scored we fell silent. For all of five seconds. Then the roars and encouragement were redoubled. Great stuff.
Just to talk about Liverpool for a moment, I was so impressed with van Dijke. I’d seen him for Southampton but first time in a Liverpool shirt. So good. I don’t often say this but I’d love him in our team. Worth every penny of that huge transfer fee.
Two more home games in the next week, both of which I’m lucky enough to be going to. Can’t wait.
Those in need of an Arse fix today may wish to know that the women’s team are on the BBC red button channel right now.
So much for a valiant rearguard stand
from Soton. 20 minutes in and 3-0 down.
On the bright side Hughes looks very
unhappy which is never a bad thing.
Everything comes to he who waits, even a hungover match review.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>