Arsenal had all the possession but zero penetration other than through the magic feet on Lucas Torreira, but three points is three points. We hardly reached the heights of the last week but we have earned a well deserved rest after 7 points in 8 days….
Here are my ratings:
Leno 6
An easy day for Leno. Didn’t have one shot on target to deal with but made no obvious errors
Lichtsteiner 6
Good aggressive game in an unfamiliar position. I like his grit. Was taken off for tactical reasons at half-time.
Mustafi 6
Becoming more consistent, but unlucky to get a suspension and an injury in the same game. He should be okay though….
Sokratis 7
The Greek has become our leader at the back. A true old style defender. Shame he’s suspended for Southampton as well.
Bellerin 6
Was hemmed in by the big Huddersfield grapplers and was not as effective as usual.
Guendouzi 7
Very creative in the middle with some great passing. Very creative in the diving department as well!
Xhaka 6
Another one booked for diving, I wonder what training was like this week? Couldn’t create much in a very crowded midfield.
Torreira 8
Definitely MOTM performance. He rarely puts a foot wrong in midfield, and what a goal! What a signing. He could be the new Frank Lampard. He was our only player to get any shots on target!
Kolasinac 6
Another that couldn’t get much room, but he was trying at least.
Aubameyang 7
PEA didn’t have his magic boots on and not one of his 4 shots hit the target, but a great assist for our new centre-forward Lucas Torreira!
Lacazette 5
It’s not good when both our strikers are having an off day, but at least he got it in the back of the net, but it was just one of those days but that may have changed in the second half but he wasn’t on the pitch.
Subs:
Iwobi 5
Not one of his good days.
Mkhitaryan 6
Or his. Although he did try shooting a couple of times.
Monreal 6
A soft introduction to start gaining match fitness.
Agree with Torreira as MOTM. He looks like our own Kante now
I hope Emery keeps using 3-4-1-2, because it’s so promising and it fits into our wide forwards’ playing style (Aubameyang/ Lacazette/ Welbeck/ Nelson, etc), despite the barren eighty minutes at the Emirates. Perhaps they visited JustArsenal and read @JJPawn’s idea about that formation?
If they keep playing like this, they might have to recall Nelson or get another wide attacker in January
Hi, I had been hammering the 442 or 3412 formation to Emery from after losing to Man City and Chelsea at the beginning of the season on the grounds that Arsenal had 2 of the best strikers in EPL and Aubameyang scored his 98 goals at Dortmund all bar one coming from a central position and within the bEmery for all his achievements and Video studies of games ignored this fact and wasted Auba’s talents by using him as a winger because of his amazing pace.
Finally having used the 3412 formation with both Aubameyang and Lacazette as the front two, Emery shoots himself in the foot by Not using Ozil as the EPL best for assists and one who can carve a defence or Not using Ibowi and Mkhitararyan from the outset; Ibowi as a winger and Mkhitaryan who is really an attacking midfielder. So the brilliant Mr. Unai Emery used a highly tuned “twin turbo charged petrol engine” and decided to put “Diesel” in the tank?
The mind boggles with this “Idiotic” thinking! Arsenal needs to sell Ramsey, Elneny, and Ozil and if Arsenal’s Raul and Viney are serious and genuine to their assertions and woords, then sign Isco, Ndombele and Hirving Lorzano in the January transfer window. This will not only guarantee challenging for honors in top spot at EPL but also Trophies and the incoming finances will balance the books!
Omar , So all in all the abysmal Emery is culpable for our miserably short 21 game unbeaten run and must surely be close to being sacked. That seems to be the logical conclusion to your comments. How fortunate that you are around to correct the multitude of managerial mistakes. Thank you so much!
?jon saved the rest of us from responding in detail.
Er, I think Ozil was injured and Iwobi was pants.
“Aubameyang scored his 98 goals at Dortmund all bar one coming from a central position”
Wrong.
BvB played Auba on the right initially and Lewandowski was their main CF, beastly CF who earned his move to BM.
It was Auba following season that Klopp moved him into the middle. It is worth noting that Auba scored a hat trick on his first Bundesliga game, scoring with his first shot.
Auba started his BvB days as a right winger which is where St Etienne played him. 87 games and 37 goals from right wing for St Etienne.
So Omar, did you double check yourself when making bold claims? Nothing you said is worth paying attention to due to your own inaccuracy.
?
Torreira is a gem…
Am I the only gooner who wants Cazorla back? 🙁
Is there anything our little warrior Torreira can’t do?? He works so hard & has even popped up with 2 very important goals & how good were they?!
Love watching him walking on the pitch – he takes 2 strides to everyone else’s 1!! Bless him!! Thank you Torreira, you are amazing! Keep up the very good work!!
I’m a little worried about next week… St Mary’s hasn’t always been a great place to visit, even when we had plenty of defenders to choose from! Come on Unai… weave some more of your magic please!!
I bet he could be a great number 10 if called upon 😛
I’m not going to suggest we play him as that but it is a funny thought, he could out DM any opposition DM XD
Torreira is awesome
@sue??
Xhaka back to being terrible yesterday.
Xhaka made 10 ball recoveries, 5 tackles and most completed passes, 65, most clearances, 6 and most headed clearances, 4. So yes he was terrible….. not!
Right again, Declan.
Xhaka wasn’t terrible. In fact he wasn’t bad at all.
Quoting Pain in the Arsenal: “He led the team in tackles with Kolasinac, he lead the team in clearances, he led the team in aerials won. He was second in chances created. Yeah, he got sloppy a couple of times, but when you touch the ball 111 times, twice as much as any other player, chances are, you are going to experience more problems. The fact that he experienced no more than anyone else is testament to how well he did on either side of the mistakes.”
Somehow BT Sports, Sky Sports and even the disgusting news outlet Mirror lead unexplainable crusade against Xhaka (and Mustafi), and if you watch their show/stream then you can easily get under the impression that they constantly perform sub-par. However reality is quite the contrary.
Unfortunately self-proclaimed pundits and bloggers follow these low quality commentaries, and they often rate them 5 (or even 4) while the correct evaluation is rather 7+
“Arsenal had all the possession but zero penetration other than through the magic feet on Lucas Torreira,”
Yet it was Guendouzi who made the penetrating long ball that started the movement which Torreira ended by scoring.
Praise to Torreira but at the same time, praise to Guendouzi for finding that beautiful pass to penetrate the opposition when it looked like we could be held to a stalemate.
?
I like Guendouzi, I dislike how he flops but his energy is exciting, I’m so eager to see a CM trio of Torreira, AMN and Guendouzi.
Pace, power, tenacity, skill… What would it miss? No number 10 but I think the combo of a confident AMN and Guendouzi could provide enough creativity through the middle while being able to win the ball back quickly which in turn will create chances.
Ooooh the potential is making me bounce again XD
Nelson, ESR and Nketiah as a future attack ahead of that CM… If they progress as hoped…
Then there are the CBs we have, Medley and Pleguezuelo both looked good in the time Emery gave them and they have been doing well for the youth. Holding, playing in 1st team as much as he has this season, I almost forgot about him lol, he is young still and one for the future as well as now. Mavrop looked good against UTD and again, one for the future while maybe able to contribute now. Are we going to keep Chambers with that much potential? I like Chambers and think he could do well on the right as well as his experience at both RB and CB means he could potentially make the rCB in a 3CB role his…
Long post sorry.
I get excited thinking about the potential.
Sampdoria tweeted that they’re setting up a thanks for Torreira email address for all us gooners ?
Sue, what’s to thank Sampadoria for? Arsenal paid the fee and they made a good profit. Sampadoria paid a total of €4.5 million to Pescara for Lucas Torreira and sold him to Arsenal for €30 million.
Hopefully next time Arsenal will scout players of his ilk directly from the country of origin and cut out the middle men! ??