Gunners Get The Hard Earned Points
Feb 9th, 2019 by 'holic
There were a few surprises when the team sheet was published an hour before kick-off at Huddersfield. Our attacking options were restricted by a knee injury to Aaron Ramsey, and illness ruling out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil. Granit Xhaka was also ruled out with a groin problem.
We welcomed back Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Henrykh Mkhitaryan after injury. Mohamed Elneny deputised for Xhaka. I chose to have a breather after the match so as to consider what to write about a seemingly disappointing performance despite the fact that we completed a league double over the Terriers for the second consecutive season.
For much of the match we were on the back foot which attracted some hostile commentary on social media. Huddersfield may be rock bottom of the Premier League but they do play decent football. Clearly their main issue is lacking a goalscorer in the side. Remember we only broke them down with a late Lucas Torreira strike at home.
We survived a hairy start and took the lead, having taken more control of the game, when Sead Kolasinac crossed from the left for Alex Iwobi to volley home with the aid of a deflection off Kongolo in the seventeenth minute. It was a goal that hopefully will restore confidence to a young player who needs to be more consistent.
The decision to revert to a back three was vindicated as we came under pressure, but didn’t buckle, for long spells. That pressure was often created by us being dispossessed or, more worryingly, misplacing a number of passes. We had to be grateful for Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac raiding down the flanks to give us hope of a further strike. It arrived when Maitland-Niles found himself clear and his excellent pass provided the hard-working Alexandre Lacazette with goal number twelve of the season.
The second-half was a tough watch, if I am being totally honest. We had to be grateful to Nacho Monreal for a goal-line clearance, and Laurent Koscielny for saving us when Leno palmed one into the centre of the area in front of him.
One can understand the frustrations expressed by some on social media, and yet we surely have to take into account the fact that we are just seven months into the Unai Emery era, and that the head coach was seriously hampered by missing eight players today.
Emery is already being criticised by a few for not making clearer the style he is trying to play. He deserves more patience but it is somewhat confusing to see us constantly changing formations. A back four last week, a three this week. A conventional four one week then a diamond the next. One striker early season and the switch to two up front. It hasn’t helped us to develop any consistency.
At the same time it is fair to say that almost certainly Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos would be starting in defence if fit. Granit Xhaka and either Aaron Ramsey or Mesut Ozil could be starting in midfield. Aubameyang would have been a shoe-in too. Instead a makeshift squad team dug in and repelled a busy home team until the last minutes when the unfortunate Kolasinac denied us a first clean-sheet away from home in the Premier League with an own goal.
Had Huddersfield nicked an equaliser the pitchforks would have been out in force but we saw the game out and notched up a much needed three points on the road. A word for Denis Suarez, surely about to make his first Gunners start in the Europa League against Bate Borisov, came on for a cameo and looked a little more assured than at Manchester City. He appears to be settling in well. Let’s hope he continues to grow into the player Unai Emery believes he is.
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51 Responses to “Gunners Get The Hard Earned Points”
First?
Only! ?
Number 22222222, is…….
I haven’t seen anything Holic but I think you have written a typically balanced report.We were shorn of a lot of key players but I do agree that Emery changes the shape of the side constantly which can’t lead to any consistency.
I have a much higher opinion of Iwobi than most but I do worry that young Torreira is burnt out after the World Cup and a busy first season . I do hope young Suárez has something I sense he is lightweight for PL football .
I’m sorry to read you in such a downbeat mood, Maestro. I have reconciled myself to a feeling that we don’t seem to be a team that will set the world on fire this season. These days I’m more than grateful for three points. I quite like it, it takes me back to the days when I was 30 or more years younger.
Dig in. Wait for the Solskjaer bubble to burst. (Anyone fancy a side bet on him racking up fewer than fourteen unbeaten?) Watch Chelsea try to get some sort of consistency. At your discretion, hope to survive to see the Tinies move into a new stadium. Hope for better things next season.
Sure enough, we’ve been hoping for better things next season than this for several years now, but to be honest, if anyone reading this really believed it was likely to be delivered in his first season by a manager new to the Premier League then they are likely to experience rather a lot of disappointments in life.
COYG
Seen nothing but the goals. Comments and stats suggest we were mediocre. Not at all encouraging but 3 points are 3 points and we remain in striking distance.
Nice report H.
I must admit, I’m getting very bored with the constant Emery bashing from the anonymous keyboard warriors. We are a shambles off the field and in major transition on it. None of which is helped by injuries at the back and by only being able to beg for long an deals in the last transfer window.
Not a great game today but 3 points none the less. Yes, it should have been more and a lot easier and the score line more convincing. But it is what it is.
We have seen positives and there are clearly signs of the way forward. Laca and Aubameyang up front could clearly be potent and a force to reckon with. Torreira and Guendouzi are both great prospects. Guendouzi is a real find. If we can keep hold of him then he could be something special.
Today wasn’t great but was still 3 points. We have two very winnable home games coming up and a very winnable euro game. For a side with so many shortcomings and weaknesses, it could be a lot worse. The spoilt keyboard warriors will grow up one day.
Keep the faith.
Very sad to see us go out of the Youth Cup. I hoped our name was in it this year .
As for chopping and changing team selection the recall of Keaton Jennings takes the biscuit . We’ve simultaneously weakened the batting and the wicket keeping by swapping him for Foakes .
Hopefully Citeh can rack up a 4-0 win tomorrow!
Good balanced report. I’ve only seen the highlights/lowlights.
We move on.
More a makeshift season than one of transition given the injuries and illnesses. I suspect that Emery is switching his formations to fit the available players more than not knowing how he wants to play. And weren’t those now complaining about the chopping and changing of formations the same ones who were complaining previously about AW’s tactical inflexibility?
Good report Holic,
My only gripe was we didn’t take our opportunities in the second half and did the usual Arsenal performance…
If Iwobi scores it’s 0:3 surely then heads go down but I have to give it to Huddersfield they worked hard and were very physical. We were very wasteful in the first half and in the second could really string few passes together. I’m not sure if it was for real but at time we had real problems getting out of our own half.
Steve T,
I will question the whole formation changes week in week out, and the players picked nothing wrong with that in my eyes. Some of those decisions are strange indeed.
Three points is all that matters, we obviously need to take those baby steps. One step at a time please Arsenal!
It’s like nursing home here
no one below 77
one foot in the grave but still hoping
bless you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsWwU5t3mPY&start_radio=1&list=RDUsWwU5t3mPY
The way the gunners scored the goals gives me hope they can play
the same style as the Norwegian.Another winforthe guy.
I cant wait for the gunners to puncture his unbeaten run.
To do that the gunners must defend like they its their last day on planet earth.
All good things must come to an end like red face calling it a day
because he knows with Chelsea and MC having tons of money,he would not be able to win the epl year and year out.
Hopefully when they meet at the ES Arsenal will put to bed
their bogey team. Its about time the rd come crashing to planet earth.
All of what ATG said @11
The players, the management and
the board all have their various
detractors. Given, we’re still 6th in
a 6 horse race that’s not unfair for
any of them.
Arthur. I do get your point and do agree with you to a certain degree. At first, substitutions at half time were revolutionary. A breath of fresh air. Now, and rightly so in my opinion, people are asking questions.
The changes in formation I think are Emery trying to establish what works best with what he currently has. I really don’t think that is easy when you have never had the opportunity to play your first choice defence? I also think he has had to shuffle the pack quite considerably, especially at the back, due to injuries and the like.
I think that Emery needs at least two seasons before we can really judge him. I also think that if we could played Bellerin, Sokratis, Kos and Nacho as a settled back four for the majority of the season, that we would be a lot stronger.
Morning all,
Nice report, Holic, in the cold light of retrospection.
It wasn’t pretty by any means but it was a win ground out by a squad severely hit by injuries and illness.
Trying to instill a new playing style in a team that has so many changes forced on it every week must be a nightmare.
There are, for me, some selection issues – I don’t personally get the preference for Iwobi over an even fit Ramsey or Ozil, but maybe contract and physical committment issues are playing a part there. I also feel very sorry for Maitland-Niles, who must wonder what he has to do to get a start in his best position.
Otherwise, i sould agree with Steve T above. The manager needs time, money – not holding my breath on that front – and some fit players before he can seriously be judged.
It can’t be for nothing that one of the four richest clubs in the world chose to appoint him. Having said that, a touch more adventure in his tactics and selections wouldn’t go amiss.
With our defence behind them, what could possibly go wrong ? ?
SteveT@15: What you say about a the absence of settled back four is spot on.
Maybe those of us hoping for more adventurous, sparkling football should reconsider our expectations. The clue could be in the name –
Emery paper – gritty, abrasive, used to remove rustiness and grind down.
?
Chelski horror show
A couple more and they’ll be down to 6th from 4th in a weekend
Getting outclassed by Citeh can happen to anyone. Just ask Chelsea at the moment !
@18, Good, Trev. Only problem – Emery Paper costs £0.50 per sheet not £60 per seat 🙁
BtM – and don’t we know it !
Chelsea down to 6th as it stands!
Well.. F that handshake Pep..
–Sarri
What makes City so hard to play against – apart from the 1 1/2 billion or so they’ve spent on brilliant players – is that they never lose their shape and seem to constantly cover the entire pitch.
That’s no accident of course, and is explained in an article I read on Guardiola and his coaching methods.
He divides the pitch up into a grid of 12 squares and demands that a set of 10 squares are always occupied – which 10 depends on the phase of play at the time.
If you watch the City players, they are constantly watching each other and adjusting their positions whether on or off the ball.
On the ball they, therefore, always have many passing options open to them as their team mates are occupying so much of the pitch.
Likewise, off the ball, opponents find them so hard to break down because they seem, actually they are, everywhere.
That, of course, requires huge concentration and fitness – not to mention a bit of talent.
Man City removed Chelsea’s sari, bent them over and had their way while Sarri took copious notes. The only time I have ever felt sorry for Chelsea. They were humiliated and it felt far worse than the 8-2 spanking we received from Manure. It will happen to many teams over the next few years and unless we improve our defense it could be us at the receiving end from City and Pool.
Ksn
That felt worse than the 8-2? No way .
Firstly the 8-2 was against us. No Chelsea defeat matters like a defeat for us
Secondly the United team were not a patch on this Citeh side
Thirdly we grossly mismanaged the club during that summer( sound familiar?) and entered a game against major rivals grossly unprepared. I actually felt ashamed that day . It was quite awful. We have made a habit of capitulating spinelessly away from home in big games recently but that was the worst ever.
Glad our games against Shitty are
over this season.
Oddly enough 6-0 levelled out the
goal difference from the 2 games
against Shitty and Huddersfield
for us and Chavski
Don’t suppose Chavski are looking
forward to the League Cup Final
too much.
Anyway, fuck ‘em, home to Soton
for us and Manure play Liverpool
so it’s a good chance to get some
extra points on the board
TTG @27, what I meant was that the disparity between the teams was not as stark as a 8-2 score would imply. We were on par with Manure in the initial period of that match and I never felt they were so much better than us. Of course, a 8-2 loss is always gutting. I felt that our 6-0 loss to Mourinho’s Chelsea was a lot worse because we were never in the game. Yesterday City just blew Chelsea away. The match was totally one sided and the score reflected that.
The second half of the 8-2 at Old Trafford (worst defeat since 1896) was an abject collapse. The Guardian’s player ratings nailed it with Szczesny “beaten eight times without once being at fault. Who would be an Arsenal keeper behind this defence?” However, ManU had only two more shots on target than we did, 15 to 13, but eight of their 15 went in.
If someone says anything against Emery is it wrong to do so? if someone says anything about Iwobi or Mustafi is it wrong? Does that make them a ” lesser supporter or a not a true supporter”, I really get tired when I am constantly said that because I do all the things mentioned. I never wish them bad nor do i fall back on supporting them but for me, some of them are just not good enough. I really was hoping Emery turns out to be someone who will focus on the defense and the shape of the team but so far i haven’t seen anything convincing. Early days i agree. Mustafi i am sorry is just not good enough to play for us, never was never will be. Iwobi, well for me we have been waiting for that eureka moment when he develops a brain but i haven’t seen anything substantial towards it, it makes me wonder when it will be and also makes me think is he any upgrade to even theo who we let go off, forget he being the next sterling etc. Theo and Iwobi are different players but both had the same issue- final ball and awareness.
The game was indeed poor mainly because of our sloppiness, we tried our best to make them relevant and they came very close to being so. Lacazette as ever brilliant and so was Kos, rest no comments.
Vinay,
I may be wrong but I can’t
remember anyone on here
saying that anyone else is a
lesser or not true supporter.
Apart from all wanting Arsenal to
win, I can’t think of any issue
we all agree on. Personally, in
your first paragraph I agree with
you on Emery and Mus, but not
so much on Iwobi – it’s just my
opinion.
Well we were bloody awful yet again.
BUT….
I still refuse to judge Emery on the short time he has really had, our injury record still defies belief and cannot be his fault, some of our players are spineless gutless cowards who cry off at any given opportunity and is that his fault?
No….
3 pts is so valuable to us at the moment that we cannot afford to be too negative towards the team.
I know this is ironic coming from me, but the problems mostly are now being caused by a certain player who cannot be bothered and an injury list that is truly shocking in its length and breadth.
Give him time, I still genuinely believe he is the right man for the job, but right now it is one of the hardest jobs in football.
Vinay
As OM says I don’t think anyone around these parts would cast aspersions at your support for the club. This is very much a blog for Arsenal fans who care for the club but can disagree without a nuclear proliferation treaty being infringed .
I think almost everyone on here would love Emery to have pushed us on a little bit more but most feel, as I do, that the chaos upstairs and the variability of the squad added to bad luck with injuries has made his job incredibly hard. We have a much better chance of making the CL this season than we did last.
As for the two players you mention I could not agree more that Mustafi is a waste of space and a poor use of £35m. As for Iwobi I think he gets a very bad rap from Arsenal fans in general . I think he is strong, quick and skilful but his final ball needs improving. I think he needs a better end product .
I well remember the abuse hurled at Ray Parlour in his early days . He matured into a terrific player when we surrounded him with quality. I think Iwobi could be the same although rumours reach my ears that he has an ‘interesting ‘ social life. No idea if these are true but Ray Parlour had a very lively time off the pitch and still had a very good career
I won’t be surprised if Rambo starts pulling up some serious trees at Juve. Good luck to him.
The rumours are true- I also have an interesting social life.
Although I’ve never bumped into Iwobi or The Romford Pele on a night out. ?
Vinay.
Who were you quoting?
I assume your post was in response to Steve? Although you certainly weren’t quoting him.
If you wanna get Steve’s goat then don’t blame Emery… Blame the refs! ?
I have just arranged to see a friend at 6pm on Thursday. I could easily have organised another time. But it turns out I just don’t care very much about our game against Bate. Or expect us to play well enough that I’d enjoy the spectacle.
We need to get back into the Champions League and we need to back the manager in the transfer window.
Young Steve T, an Essex man of note,
Fell into a fortune so he bought himself a goat,
Said Steve “Sure of goat’s milk,
I’m going to have my fill”,
But when he got it home he found his Nanny was a Bill…..
That’s the only reference to Steve T’s goat that I know, GSD. 🙂
I’m incredibly annoyed that all of Wenger’s efforts and the efforts of everyone at our club to move into a world class new stadium have not resulted in us becoming a footballing powerhouse like Bayern but have instead gone to filling the pockets of a canny and opportunistic American tosser. Stan buying into Arsenal when he did was financial genius from his point of view, competitive suicide from ours and after so much hardship the fact that he has taken all the spoils while we scratch around in the Europa League as we make (or don’t make) loan signings for players even we don’t want to waste money on buying is a situation I could turn the air blue describing. It’s all too awful to bother writing the considered anylysis it warrants. Stan can do one.
Oh, for Custodians.
PHW was not exactly perfect. But I’d give so much to have a man running the show whose loyalty to The Arsenal was, to borrow a phrase, never in doubt.
BTM.
Thanks for this. I loved it. And I’m sure Steve was not happy it turned out to be a Bill.
But I missed the part where you explained how this was Mike Dean’s fault? I mean, most things are… ?
I usually find much to agree with GSD on and again I sadly agree with him re Kroenke. I have written a polemic for the next Gooner about the general mismanagement at our club and sent it to five mature Gooners asking if I had gone OTT and all of them suggested I hadn’t gone far enough.
But don’t forget to reserve some ire for the execrable Gazidis. He has pissed off to Milan after putting in place a very untried and almost immediately collapsing structure. He presided over a lull in our fortunes and was handsomely remunerated. He has shown no loyalty and very little talent.
Too true TTG. Gazidis – “no loyalty and very little talent.” Sums him up.
Give it a decade AC Milan. Then you’ll be really screwed.
So Juve think it worth paying Ramsey £400,000 a week for his prime years. It will be interesting to see in four years time which was the mug, us or them.
Interesting, indeed. One factor is Ramsey’s injury record of over 120 games missed due to injury in his Arsenal career.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/aaron-ramsey/verletzungen/spieler/50057
He hasn’t had a major injury in a couple of years, which either could mean his bones are getting stronger, or he is due one.
BtM. That sounds like one of those extremely dodgy nights out that you told me you enjoyed so much in your younger days???????
And just for the record, I hate goats.
I’m also starting to go off dinosaurs?????
?
Vale Gordon Banks.
One of the great keepers of my generation.
Passed away aged 81.
RIP Gordon Banks.
News item: Mourinho to host a program on Russian TV. Arm wrestling with Putin, bare chested, to be the first feature presumably.
Well said Clive and bt8. I feel privileged to have watched Gordon Banks in the flesh. May he RIP.
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