Arsenal have not lost either of the two games that we have played in November so far, but we could have done and our performances in those two games against Ludogorets Razgrad and Tottenham will surely bring up the questions about whether or not this season’s version of the Gunners can avoid the usual nightmare that is November.
Arsenal found ourselves two down to the Bulgarians in a short space of time and but for an individual piece of brilliance from Mesut Ozil we would have handed advantage in our Champions League group to PSG. I also think that we might well have lost the derby if the spuds had not been missing key players in Dele Alli and Alderweireld.
After looking unbeatable against Chelsea it is hard to fathom why we have looked so sluggish in the last week and we can only hope that things get back to normal after this international break. Coming up in November is the Premier League away tie at Manchester United and the Champions League tie at home to PSG.
These are both huge games that could have a big impact on the whole season for Arsenal so another poor November could spell disaster. We could also be out of the EFL cup by the end of the month when a bit of a bogey team for us, Southampton, come to the Emirates.
At least Mesut Ozil is getting a rest and we should have Santi Cazorla back and with the likes of Ramsey, Giroud and Walcott gaining match sharpness on international duty, can Arsenal stop this slipping into another of those damaging months of November?
D.N.
Please guys let’s not get carried away with the draw against spurs, there is a lot of football still to be played and I’m almost certain our rivals will definitely drop points! It’s too soon to press the panic button let’s be positive and get behind the team! Coyg!
aye aye capt. Greg
Where on earth do we get these silly mental blocks? Inventing things that ain’t even a thing… Nightmare November? Really? November or August, even in May or March, it is a tough run of games for any team in Europe playing the Spuds, Manures and PSG in succession. Anyways I think a 4-2-4 would have been the anawer to their three man defence.
The way I see it is Spu came for the draw, and one lazy leg left hanging gave it to them. They had one up front, so basically six midfielders at times or five defenders other times. Its no wonder they have best defensive record sure they’re less adventurous than the old che. At least they look that way to me. I think Poch is after taking a long look at Lei last season, someone likened them (spu) to a Stoke in the last post, and yeah I can see that.
We need to show up for manu game now. The three points in that game will mean four points over two difficult games, I’d probably have taking that if it was offered to me. No more silly mistakes though, to be bet by something like what Ozil done with his last goal is one thing, to succumb to individual mishaps is just too infuriating. We need to get our quick passing going again, today we played counter but spu set up to nullify that by overloading and marking the main players. We need to make it hard for utd to do that. I’d like to hear Wenger speak on spu tactics and maybe let us know what he thinks he/we could have done differently, besides not giving away a silly penno. The game lacked impetus for a derby, esp our side.
I genuinely feel Iwobi was a bad selection for this match. He was slow on the ball, with and without it, indecisive and pressing was non-existent which gave spurs far too much easy possession.
For me, it’s not a problem to have both Iwobi and Ozil on the pitch for matches where we have a clear technical and quality advantage. But if we do want to have periods of sustained pressure in the bigger clashes, I don’t think it works. Ozil offers enough with the ball to excuse his defensive frailties (not excuse effort, just effectiveness when we’re trying to win the ball back), but having two defensively inept players puts a lot more load on the rest of the team.
He’s young, and obviously allowed to have the occasional bad game. But for me he was the undoubtedly weak link tactically in our XI last match..
Ozil was the bad selection for this match. Most of the times, he could not keep the ball and most of his passes were inaccurate. He had a bad day, like what usually happened when he was in big matches.
He was marked out of his favorite space, maybe the reason why they chose that formation, that and overloading central to stop our flow.
So you two think Iwobi and Ozil were bad selections based on what happened in the game?? Rather a stupid analogy don’t you think? or can we put the clock back and not select them ?
We have to stop lying to ourselves. In the first 30 minutes against Tottenham, when we played with direct and quick football, he was great, because he is very suitable for that style, like what he did in Real Madrid. But after that first 30 minutes, we became slower, and he could not adapt.
He has a very good technique, as shown by that one Maradona goal against Ludogorets. But most of the times, we need players with high battle spirit and the ones that are able to possess the ball more.
I agree, I also beleive that both wide players let the CM players down in not moving a little bit central at times to help out as we were outnumbered. Spu had three CB’s, so they weren’t going anywhere, Spu widemen, we didn’t always need a fullback and a winger to take care of each one of them. Monreal was doing quite well against spu best fullback/winger, Iwobi could have trusted Monreal and moved inside to keep Wanyama or someone busy, same goes for Theo, but one at a time so we can have the out-ball to spread play, it would have helped Coquelin and Xhaka who had too much to think about, we could have turned their strong point into a weak point by flipping it on them.
oh please… there’s 9PL points up for grabs in November. 2 of the matches against top teams.
I don’t care about who was hypothetically fit, and you seem to care more about their injuries than our very own influential midfielder out of action..
And an away CL victory? I don’t care the circumstances either, it was a victory on the road which are hard to come by, for any team!
Please don’t buy in to the media BS about Arsenal and November. We were top of the league in what month last season? and that got us where exactly come the end of the season?? It’s a marathon and every team will have good patches and bad ones. Putting specific time-periods under such heavy scrutiny will only add doubt.
Get behind the team FFS, don’t look for excuses to spin an away CL victory and a draw against our bitter rivals as anything more than disappointing. It’s far from a predecessor to doom!!
It could be a nightmare month, if Arsenal does not focus. But no worries, even though we just had a draw, I saw the manager and his staffs are trying to change the predictable Arsenal in this season. If the players can keep the spirit they had in the first half in the big derby, for the rest of season, I believe we can win the league this time.
I know some are saying we shouldn’t worry but to be honest I’m worried,we are playing a Mourinho team next after the international break and we all know Wenger doesn’t even have a single league victory against him,the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea have no european football so can fully focus on the league all this has me worried!
We will beat United.
Liverpool are scary though… Their toughest fixtures are an away Derby and Southampton Away next until the 1st of Jan!
If the top teams don’t lift they could pull away.
I hope people know what they’re talking about when they say Klopp pushes too much and they’ll get injured or run out of steam. Because if not well then why aren’t players being pushed all the time. Unless it’s the extra European matches when pushed is just too much, I reckon Klopp didn’t want Europa league football, he knew they wouldn’t sack him.
Thanks to Arsenal’s draw today, Arsenal are on the best run of form since the last 7 years. 16 games unbeaten in all competitions, the last time we had that was seven years ago, a run that went seventeen unbeaten before we faced Roma. So those who say same old same old, well, kinda not, seven years ago we were close and still had huge hopes. So it looks like we are trying to be like the old Arsenal but not the recent one, we’re heading more the direction of were Wenger set out.
Yes Klopp pushes his team hard. He is winning. The sense of urgency and passion helps win games.
Wenger on the other hand trusts statistics. He believes all will turn out well if we remain close in the race, keep consistent, not too many injuries etc. This approach seems logical but is the reason we slow down in November and pick up in May when we desperate to remain in the race. It is the passion, urgency and sometimes desperation that picks up the win rates between top teams. We always lack that until May.
Santi!!! Santi!!! Santi!!! Please come soon and save us from the November nightmare. We are completely different with Santi. Pray for him to get back soon, then things will be okay.
the November BS is just a myth, it’s been purely coincidental that we get tough fixtures in November same as February which is also termed another ‘historically bad month for Arsenal’.
we only drew Spurs, we need to get our act right and beat United we dnt even need a draw.
beat United and get back on track n we can do so against that injury-striken defense of theirs.
we just need to bury our chances rather than pass to the goalkeeper.
beat United, PSG (or get a 0-0 / 1-1 draw) n Bournemouth isn’t a threat to Arsenal, for the EFL cup play a mixture of the 2nd team n 1st team, play Ospina,Xhaka n dnt start Giroud n we will win,
with this, it’s been a good November.
i am gradually coming to the belief that the only transfer we should be concentrating (in Jan or Aug) is a santi replacement / backup… because honestly whenever he is not in the team we screw up… and we don’t have anyone in the current team who can replace him
D.N. There is nothing we have seen from this team that gives us reason to believe this year will be different. I think we can all agree that this team is better and deeper than last season, but it’s behavior seems very similar.
I can deal with not being able to beat the only unbeaten team in the league. What I find hard is being out worked and out played. We did not bring our A game, if we had we would have won IMO.
It seems the pressure of being able to take 1st place with a win got to our fragile mental strength. How else can we explain not playing our usual game and looking tired?