Arsenal played their final pre-season game last night in the Camp Nou in Barcelona, and they did not play too badly considering the opposition and only got beaten by an excellent finish from Luis Suarez in the last minute, although he was left with too much space in the middle of the box. We could have done even better though if Maitland-Niles hadn’t gifted Barca the equalizer after Aubameyang scored a screamer to put us ahead.
It was a defeat, but Emery was quite pleased and was more worried about getting minutes in action rather than the result, esecially as there was no Laca, Pepe or Iwobi in the squad, and Torreira is only just approaching fitness. The Boss said after the game: “….I am really happy with our work, with our performance. The next week we are going to start the Premier League against Newcastle and the result is going to be important. But not today. We want to create a winning mentality but the first today was to work with all the players, to start thinking how we can be better for the first match against Newcastle. We have some injuries but that is normal for every team. We played a good match here, away here in Barcelona against a good team, where every match is difficult. We had some mistakes, but it is up to us to improve that.”
Well you can see how we got in with this excellent highlights video produced by Barcelona themselves.
Enjoy!
Pre season done and dusted now unto the real business Newcastle on Sunday.
Emery should now consider his best team to face Newcastle based on fitness.
Transfer deadline on Thursday and I am having the feeling that we will not be signing anybody again. Hopefully my feelings are wrong and we get Tierney and a decent CB.
My predicted line up I think Emery will put up on Sunday.
Aubameyang
Nelson.. Ozil.. Mkhitaryan..
Willock.. Xhaka..
Monreal.. Sokratis.. Chambers.. M. Niles..
Leno..
Subs:
Martinez
Ceballos
Martinelli
Guendouzi
Torreira
Kolasinac
Mustafi
Pepe and Lacazette be rested based on precautionary measures.
I would start
Aubameyang
Torreira
Ceballos or Guendouzi
Instead of Mkhitaryan ,Xhaka, Wilock
We need a Win to start the season
We definitely look good going forward… Pepe and lacazette will even make the attack better. My worry is our defense.. Who’s gonna be our commanding Central backs this season?
Sokratis
Mustafi
Chambers
Holding (not fully fit)
Monreal has played central back before but don’t really rate him there
Lb Kola. Monreal
Rb Bellerin (not fit). Niles (not a rb after all)
If the defense can be good then that’s gonna be a plus but we have tried them last season. Maybe the midfielders need to help ease pressure from the defense.
Holding was our best CB last season before his injury. It’s not guarantee he will come back guns blazing immediately after his injury.
Wishing the gunners a good season. Happy with the strike force I must confess but defense still has some doubt in it…
Agree with you UO, we are 1 Van Dijk class CB away from being title contender
Nile is a rb, he isnt the only player who got converted from one position to the other.
He needs to be specially talk to
Agreed but I don’t rate him there.. He has played some decent games as a rb but lately (end of the season and up to Barça friendly game) he has been found wanting. He is not a versatile player like some players can adjust to a new role. He is a midfielder… Well, I will be thrilled if he can be talked to and of course play decently in that rb position. I am in for anything that will make the defense good.
Arsenal have always left a gap in their squad every season it’s just arsenal for you we can change it..
Has Mesut Ozil bulked up or is it just me seeing things?
After looking at those highlights, I’ve seen just how ridiculous the own goal was! So Chambers was tracking Suarez when he ran through the middle, Mustafi reacted a bit slower but his eye was on Rafinha.
It seems our defenders should play basketball to improve their spacial awareness, too much ball watching instead of man watching.
I think Granit Xhaka should make way, The likes of Willock and Ceballos would be best placed alongside Torreira to make those apt interventions in the back, and playing competently from the back and foster potent attacks.
Hello! Who is blaming Leno for that blunder? What was AMN thinking, was he blind. Fans are sentimental no doubt, some try to defend rubbish but if it were Ozil, Miki, Xhaka or Iwobi that made such blunder, curses and abuse would have overflooded here.
-He has talent as a cm: ok. I agree, how many games has he played for us as cm?
-He was converted: excuse me, Bellerin was a winger too and got converted, in fact thousands of players didnt end up where they started their professional career and still had a succesful career.
-He is still young: helloo, how old is Mbappe, De Light
Summarry: i think the guy needs to be talk to, maybe a psychologist, he needs to get his priority right, he can become a better RB than Bellerin if he get his act together
He has a good control of ball, but doesnt decide on time, as a rb ,u dont need to tarry too much on ball, a one or 2 touches are enough for rb but he take 3-4 at time , especally in dangerous places b4 deciding on what to do. He either take advantage of this moment or might not play for arsenal ever again
Put Mbappe at RB in this Arsenal theam and see how he plays. Stupid to even compare them.
and you are correct other players have made transitions from one position to another but thats because it suited them. You cant just stick any player anywhere and expect it to work. I think AMN has done his best at RB but its obvious he has no future there so is that his fault? Judge him based on his performances as a CM before critisizing his and even suggesting he see a psychologist.
Spot on I hate this over rated dude
How many games did he play as cm that
People keep bringing on he played an
Exciting game against United that’s all
About it… almost every player plays out
Of position even our best am moved to deep
Laying cm to accommodate ozil (cazorla)
Unai emery since 2008
Valencia 2008-09 62pts 6th place GF 68 GA 54
Valencia 2009-10 71pts 3rd place GF 59 GA 40(2nd season)
Sevilla 2012-13 50pts 9th place GF 58 GA 54
Sevilla 2013-14 63pts 5th place GF 69 GA 52(2nd season)(1st full season)(Won UEL)
Sevilla 2014-15 76pts 5th place GF 71 GA 45(3rd season)(2nd full season)(Won UEL)
PSG 2016-17 87pts 2nd place GF 83 GA 27
PSG 2017-18 93pts 1st place GF 108 GA 29
From this we can see that emery is more of a second season manager, except for PSG his team’s defence has improved in the second season and in every case the points have increased.
with the defence he’s got, there’s no way emery isn’t conceeding 47 goals this season
You never know, he went 22 games unbeaten with this defense, what is also noteable is that there is visible improvement in the sides he has coached from 1st to 2nd season
yes i observed it from your post, but i could say there were changes in personnel in the defense department whether incoming or out going at his previous clubs… with mustafi getting worse by every new dawn, and pepe might not be starting the the game at st. james and laca still not fit, i bet newcastle fancying a lead before the introduction of some of our quality players before the second half.
just read brentford coming in for amn to be their midfield maestro for the next 15yrs… that kid is no footballer, never met anyone so absent minded and over confident as amn… that guy is a waste of space..
I think we need to sign a good CB to fix our defence, and theres only three days left before the window closes….. well, alternatively, if we sign only Tierney and Coutinho, we might as well focus squarely on outscoring our opponents, without a care in the world about how calamitous our defence is. And with regards to the OG yesterday, I don’t understand why people are laying the blame solely at the feet of Niles. Like I said in my reply in one of the previous posts, Leno did not have any reason to run towards him when he had the ball. Yes, it’s not entirely wise of him to pass towards his goal without looking, but if Leno had stayed on his line, as I feel is the right thing to do in that situation, it wouldn’t have happened. His teammate had the ball, not an opposition player, so I do not see Leno’s reason for running towards a teammate to receive a pass…… normally in football, not always do players raise their heads to give a pass. They take one glance at their teammate’s position and the direction towards which he’s moving before they get the ball, and send it their teammate’s way without taking a second look. Hence, my reason for saying Leno should have maintained position. I’m a little excited for next season anyways….. but if we’re able to pull off Coutinho and Tierney…. wow.. We might as well be title contenders in my opinion.. and the promising prospect are likely to take us far in other competitions….. COYG…. on to the next season.
Lets call a spade as it is, Nile is ‘wholy’ at fault, what fault does a goalie has in coming to get pass from his teammate? And he did not leave is yard, he was in goalkeeper line (18yard box), this is not the first time a goalkeeper does that, AMN is at fault, that is lack of concentratiin, totally unacceptable.
Coutinho isnt coming to arsenal UE debunk the rumour already
Is it not clear that we have a worse defence than last year at the moment? There CANNOT be a miraculous change in results. Defences are not ‘maybe they’ll change and defend better, ‘maybe we’ll attack more’, ‘maybe Mustafi will stop his mistakes’. If we get any injurys Mustafi will play. Socratis and Chambers are not all that too. We WILL ship goals unless we get a REAL CB. Won’t matter Pepe or no Pepe. We have 3 days. Buy a CB………..pleeeeeeze!
Observations from the game:::
1. This manager is an absolute joke!!
All teams towards the start of season FIELD their near-strongest 11. No need of experimenting with players like AMN, Willock, Nelson, Chambers who are never going to be in starting 11.
2. AMN: No matter how many excuses English fans come up with to defend this guy, he does not have a clear position he can excel in. Wingers by default tend to perform better at RB, LB or wingback positions e.g. Valencia, Young, Moses; even Iwobi performed excellently against Moses.
3. Mavropanos should be the first defender on the starting 11.
Attributes: height, comfort on the ball, tackling.
The rest of our defenders are below 1.90m, are uncomfortable on the ball and they are merely passengers in terms of tackling.
1) You gotta be kidding right. That is our strongest 11 by taking into account match fitness & injury concern.
2) I’m not English and I’m not defending him but can you name another RB in our squad that could replace him right now.
3) Barring his debut against ManU, Mavro have not hit the headlines. He’s always injured thus could not get a good run of games. A loan move would only benefit himself and the club.
One ANSWER!!!
It all comes from having a creative manager with regard to team selections and formations.
One observation is clear: We have many central defenders hence they have to be utilized as follows;
1. Put back 3 with Mustafi, Sokratis and Mavropanos/Holding/Chambers
2. Put Mkitaryan in the right wing-back position just like Chelsea utilized Moses there.
Mind you: I trust him more than AMN and the lousy Bellerin in that position.
3. Play Ceballos and Torreira in Midfield
4. Play a frontline of Pepe, Iwobi and Aubameyang
That lineup setup will defend better and attack even better against any team on this planet.