What the community shield tells us. by Konstantin Mitov
Hello lovely Arsenal people! So Man City dismanteled Chelsea with relative ease and it signals for what’s to come. The champions looked like they didn’t miss De Bruyne at all.
It was a prime example of one team being a well established machine and the other a work in progress. I was kind of hoping we’d beat Chelsea the same way, abusing the fact that Sarri came in late, but it’s obvious we’re a work in progress.
We’re yet to fully grasp the pressing game, which is something other top teams have practiced for at least 5 years. We also still have major problems in defense. Unai Emery was at Wembley to see the game and I hope he has something special prepared.
Chelsea tried to play out a passing game and control the ball and got eventually overran. If we try the same with our defending we might get swept away. We must be tactically perfect.
It’s still a big guess who will start in midfield. Do you drop Guendouzi after his performances to go for experience? Will Torreira or Xhaka start?
Up top, do we go with both Laca and Auba? I wouldn’t be so worried for the attack. I’m sure we can cause them problems if we can keep a solid defensive setup. I’m not too confident in the Mustafi, Sokratis pair, Bellerin is an issue and who will play in left back?
I don’t see us playing a back 3, as it’s not the style of Emery, but at least it’s exciting. It’s different. I don’t know what to expect. I hope we get some points from the opening games. If we manage anything between 2 and 6 points it will be a decent start.
I wasn’t too impressed with Chelsea. They missed some key players and our record at the Bridge is terrible, but right now I wouldn’t pick them for the top 4 if I had to predict who would finish there.
Before the season starts, Man City and Liverpool are obvious candidates for the top 2 spots. It’s United, Chelsea and Spurs that we need to topple and each of them has their own issues. I think we can make the top 4 and it will be a good season if we do, but let’s focus on disappointing the champions first.
A good start against them will bring belief and confidence is so key in football. The new start is here and I can’t wait!
Konstantin
Hopefully Maureen-ho’s 3rd season syndrome would take them down to 6th position b4 he gets fired..
Tottenham haven’t made any form of transfers… I hope they suffer what we suffered after moving to the Emirates..
That leaves Mancity, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea as top 4..
I really hope AMN puts in a good shift against mahrez at left back..
COYG
Tottenham would eventually buy players, especially now that they got money from Alderwerield sale.
So if anyone saw the chelsea v arsenal game in pre season, rational and level headed goobers would have realised that chelsea outplayed us and were the better team overall in 90mins.
City absolutely battered chelsea on sunday and could have won 7-0 or 7-1.
We have to be realistic going into the new season. By the looks of it, Emery still hasn’t organised the defence and our defending throughout pre season has been poor and mismanaged. We’ve been on the end of good luck and terrible misses from the opposition.
I expect Arsenal to lose against city given city have greater fitness and more of a competitive edge via the charity shield match. I would be over the moon if we drew with city.
I’d like to address something because some of you here at times behave as if you know it all and bash me for wrong reasons.As you can see I’ve stopped posting on transfers so as to spare us all the drama.Not that anyone cares though.
Last time when I said Ramsey has verbally agreed to a contract but not signed it yet some of you here said it’s nonsense with someone stating that in the general sphere of business once a person agrees to a contract it means the person has signed it or just about to sign it.Fine.Now let’s leave the Ramsey part out.
If I had come here to state three days before Jack Wilshere left Arsenal that Wilshere had verbally agreed a contract but not yet signed it and then he left Arsenal some here would’ve naively bashed me.Indeed Wilshere confirmed this in his video saying he agreed to sign but for reasons such as game time and others he didn’t sign it.Common sense will tell you that agreeing to sign a deal and signing it are linked but in actual sense two different things.In that,though the act of signing may signify an agreement verbally agreeing to a deal still technically means the contract hasn’t yet been signed.In football lots of players verbally agree to contracts where “agree to contract” means the terms in the contract are good enough such that the player is happy with the contract and has accepted the terms but the player can still decide decide not to sign in the long run for other reasons such as lack of game time,poor tactical use etc.This is what we call a verbal agreement.This is why at times players agree to contract then wait and observe if other things would be in their favour e.g Messi has done this before when Barca were messing with transfers either in 15/16 or 16/17 or so summer.I was somewhat shocked as to how noone here has ever heard of a player who has actually verbally agreed to sign a contract but ended up not signing it in the long run due to lack of game time,poor tactical use etc.An example in recent times apart from Wilshere is the Ox.
@Kev
You shouldn’t read into what people say so much.
Whether they believe your transfer news or not, end of the day you got your
point across; “THEY READ IT” and “THEY COMMENTED”.
If people really didn’t care about your posts etc, you wouldn’t have had to write this long explanation since you wouldn’t have had the reason(people reading and commenting on your posts) to explain yourself.
great advise @CannonSpike i had a similar problem in the past like @Kev but my’n was about Arsenal accounts, i couldn’t understand why our income and total outgoings there was a huge difference of around 120 Million a year in our favor, and where was that huge amount of sum disappears every year for years, they don’t keep it in the bank as cash so they keep saying just so not to be lies, so where is it? and i’m sure i will get attacked from some on here accused of being ridiculous, i was getting my info from annual accounts
@Kev – Dembele has not signed and has expressed no intention to do so for arsenal, fact is there are no excuses. Not a matter of undermining, or otherwise attempting to deride you – point is you get carried away with uncorroborated gossip and allow yourself to be swayed before bothering to weigh up the facts.
Where did I ever say we signed Dembele?I have no problem with being called out as l9ng as it’s for the truth.
All I said was Arsenal is interested in Dembele and that we’d try for him in which we failed with a loan bid because Barca will sell for around £85 + some massive add one.
If you look carefully at least I’ve had many things right this window.
The best part of your long and boring post, which simply regurgitated all your previous rubbish, was:
‘As you can see I’ve stopped posting on transfers so as to spare us all the drama’.
Yippee!
Just need Chiza and the Resources or whatever they’re called to do the same.
I’m always amazed when anyone actually believes this dross.
Glad to see the window shuts soon!
The problem isn’t Kev
It’s you, and you commenting doesn’t make it any better GunnerJack.
I really don’t believe anything until I see the player signing on Arsenal.com.
And anyway why do you let this “dross” as you call it, affect you?
Ignore it if you think it’s “dross”, and move on.
The more you comment the more “dross” you get my friend
I read his dross just in case he really has found some news we didn’t all know already – but am invariably disappointed. Really dislike it when someone tries to be a know-all when they know nothing.
I comment to get back at the egotists like Kev and the like for getting on my freakin’ nerves with their ‘look at me – aren’t I great, I know everything’ attitude. If they knew ANYTHING I wouldn’t mind.
Kev Your post is a lot of verbiage that says nothing of value and seems to be a vain attempt to stave off much of the scorn that some of your many wrong predictions have caused you. What you have said is not factually wrong, it’s true but it is meaningless to fans. I was the one who pointed out to you that no agreement is worth anything at all UNTIL actually signed. I also pointed out to you that contacts are the very REASON for a player having being either signed or not signed(as the case may be). This is stating the ABC of business life but it seems that it needs re-stating. I also pointed out the similarity in law of a house never being bought/ sold until comp[letion of contracts(not merely exchange of contracts, incidentally). I have worked at very senior corporate level and know what I am talking about. I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL BUT i WOULD ADVISE YOU TO STICK TO FACTS, NOT CONJECTURE IF YOU MUST PLAY THE “PREDICTION GAME.” You have more on here who scorn you than those who naively believe your “forecasts,” which is hardly a surprise.
Be honest, you love reading Kev’s transfer predictions.
You just won’t admit it.
I mean you actually sat and wrote a reply longer than 100 words, that takes some passion man lol
How little you clearly understand about WHY I replied to Kev. It is silly to imbue others response with YOUR reasoning. We are all different people and have our own reasons for replying , or not, as we choose. Had you been on this site long enough to accurately assess my regular comments, you will have noted that I usually -though not always- reply in great detail with documented reasons for my thinking. Even this short explanatioin to you has taken eighty five words, so far. Replying in my case, is because I value truth , not falsehoods. To people who write for a living, 100 words is a mere flea bite and but a passing moment in a days work.
Yes the defence is a little worrying, especially reading that Chambers is off on a season long loan to Fulham! How did that come about???
It’ll be a tough game for sure, but all I want is for everyone to give it their all & go for it! I’m so excited…. 6 days to go!! COYG
Sue, I find this loan move impossible to understand, unless Unai Emery and Sven Mislattat have a top notch CB on the way in. This is particularly a concern given the recent injury record of Arsenal CB’s and FB’s, when Arsenal has to compete in 4 competitions.
Against Manchester City, Cech and Lichtsteiner must start.
I do too as he’s improved a lot! I hope someone is coming in as I’m not sure about Sokratis! Plus it depends which Mustafi will turn up.
I have to say you were right all along about Lichtsteiner… there was me harping on about his age & he looked really good on Saturday! Age is just a number hey!! I should have listened to you ??
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why isnt mavropanos playing have not seen him on pre season games i thought he wud be 1st teamer
didn’t he he played the other day against Latzio he was sub’d on late seventieth mnt
Mavropanos only played for 28min this preseason and it’s against atletico
Arsenal
4-4-2
19 Bernd Leno
12 Stephan Lichtsteiner 62′
21 Calum Chambers 78′
16 Rob Holding 77′ 78′
15 Ainsley Maitland-Niles
48 Reiss Nelson 18′ 45′
11 Lucas Torreira 62′
34 Granit Xhaka (c) 62′
17 Alex Iwobi 62′
49 Edward Nketiah 45′
9 Alexandre Lacazette 78′
Subs
55 Emile Smith-Rowe 78′
1 Petr Cech
2 Hector Bellerin 62′
4 Mohamed Elneny 62′
5 Sokratis Papastathopoulos 78′
7 Henrikh Mkhitaryan 62′
10 Mesut Özil 62′
14 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 45′ 64′
20 Shkodran Mustafi
27 Konstantinos Mavropanos 78′
29 Matteo Guendouzi 45′
Lazio
3-5-1-1
24 Silvio Proto
13 Fortuna Wallace Santos 71′
33 Francesco Acerbi 71′
26 Stefan Radu 62′
8 Dusan Basta 71′
16 Marco Parolo 71′
6 Lucas Leiva 71′
96 Alessandro Murgia 62′
19 Senad Lulic (c) 62′
10 Luis Alberto 71′
20 Felipe Caicedo 71′
Subs
31 Marius Adamonis
11 Joaquín Correa 71′
32 Danilo Cataldi 71′
4 Patric 71′
14 Riza Durmisi 62′
15 Bartolomeu Jacinto Quissanga 71′
21 Sergej Milinkovic-Savic 62′
22 Martin Caceres 71′
23 Guerrieri
25 Milan Badelj 71′
3 Luiz Felipe Ramos Marchi 62′
30 Pedro Neto 71′
66 Bruno Jordao
97 Alessandro Rossi
Tas, Thank you for providing a full list of our players real ages. My , what life experience we now have! I had no idea until your helpful post!
If Unai can find the right tactics to play against Man City, I’ll be the happiest man alive.
we have to play the old Brazilian way with city on the 12th, they will score against us but we have to make sure we score more, we have the fire power and we are at home, lets just enjoy two teams which love attacking and position WIN, LOSE or DRAW give it a massive go, we are the underdogs no shame in losing but a win means we could be the new heroes in the EPL
Stephan Lichtsteiner to bruze Sane Xhaka to hack Bruyne and Sokraties to sock it to Aguero 🙂
i just hope David Silvea don’t play
I am confident for the up coming season Unai seems to bring the confidence back.And we do have the attacking weapons to put teams to the sword if we sort our defence.
Traore for 20m let’s hijack d deal
AMN will play left back. Hopefully Cech in goal but I think he’ll play Leno.
I’m quite shocked and disappointed that Chambers is going to be loaned to Fulham. I would have started him with Mustafi until Sokratis has adjusted. Surely Holding or Mavraponos should have been loaned instead?
I would like to see Guendouzi paired with Torreira in the middle with Mkhi ahead of them, Ozil right, Laca centre and Auba left.
Sergio, I suspect most Gooners are as shocked as you , ref, Chambers. I certainly am! This would suggest that we are close to a new CB signing, having now thought properly about it. But who knows for sure. I doubt any Gooner saw this shock coming.
Ederson
Walker Otamendi/Laporte Stones Mende
Fernandinho Gundogan/KDB
Mahrez B. Silva Sane
Aguero/Jesus
I think Man City could give Arsenal a
run for their money come Sunday.
Reports are emerging that we are in for Swiss & AC Milan LB Ricardo Rodriguez & Croatian & Besiktas CB Domagoj Vida, how true are they
The pattern of play 3.3.1.3
———————-Cech——————-
—Lichtsteiner—Sokratis—Monreal —
——Xhaka—Torreira—Gueduozi——
———————Ozil———————
Mkhitaryan—-Lacazette—-Aubameyang
I go with Cech so that Leno will realize he has to be in top form to get number 1 position at Arsenal. Lichsteiner is doing well and Bellerin can come at 60th mark so that the older guy does not get injured or break down. Monreal and Sokratis are both older players who are well experienced. The three midfielders in the team combine to keep Man City away from our defensive areas, and start attacks. Ozil in his best position. 3 Man forward – Barca Like Trouble for former Barca Coach – Pep…If this is what we field, we should win 2-1 or 3-1
Isn’t Monreal injured?
Yeah…Monreal is a doubt to start the season. Holding can play there if we don’t sign someone but I’m really fearful the Mancity guys will target him…
——————-Cech———————
—Lichtsteiner—Sokratis—Mustafi—–
Bellerin–Torreira—Gueduozi—Welbeck
———————Ozil———————-
———-Laca—————Auba———–
3-4-1-2 (or or 5-3-2 or 4-3-2-1 or 4-4-2, as this line up can change shape).
Speed and confusion causing shifts are essential in beating City’s possession and in defense. It would be interesting to see what Torreira does to the opposition mid-field. I think that the mid-field will be superb at pressing. Who knows, it might actually get Ozil to the same, while Laca and Auba will do their share from the front.
Subs are important. Mikhi for Ozil, and having more options with younger players will make this a solid team without several players who are injured in the long term.
Reports are emerging that we are in for Ricardo Rodriguez & Domagoj Vida, how true is this?
The defence has been aproblem for many years.It was never fixed by the fm who
was too attacked minded for the good of Arsenal.
If you will recall there were many cases with the gunners by 1 or 2 goals only to be pegged back or lose.
As for Umai hopefully he will tighten the defence and not let Aquero run berserk.Surely the Spaniard shd be able to get 2/3/4 guys to surround the MC player.I t may or may not work.
But if he is isolated he will cause mayhem in the gunner defence.
Breaking News:
Calum Chamber just join Fulham on a Loan deal. It this Good for us? this guy is one of the best defender recently. I smell a deal for a defender is in the pipeline. Probably VIDAL
Adepholly, as I said above in the response to Sue, an incoming experienced CB is the only thing that makes the loan of Chambers to Fulham make any sense!
Boateng from Bayern Munich at 29 yo!
@Ozziegunner Reading the comments in here, I have to say yours makes the most sense. There must be a new arrival in the pipeline (probably a LB) otherwise why are loaning out Chambers?
Remember when Chambers came into the team he wasn’t doing too well as RB or CB and ended up getting loaned. Holding on the other hand, made an instant impact and looked very solid next to Koscielny when he arrived. He has made a few mistakes but I think he will be a better CB than Chambers.
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Hopefully true, but with just 3 days to fit in before window closes, it would seem odd timing , to say the least.
i think we all agree that CC was playing some good football recently and it could only be that we are getting someone better for defense for us to loan him out, just wish we could do the same to Belerin
I think only a very intense high pressing strategy could force Man City to make mistakes, like Klopp’s or Emery’s initial plan
The problem is that requires players with very high stamina and the ones that have willingness to press hard, which is going to be an issue for some of our old players
Another factor that could surprise Man City is players that can make good through balls and take on the opponents consistently, which Arsenal do not have currently. It seems Emery’s problem is the transfer budget, otherwise he would have got those types of players in N’zonzi, Malcom, Bailey, Banega or Koulibaly
gotanidea, age doesn’t necessarily mean lack of stamina. Experienced players often “think” their way around the pitch, by reading the play.
There is no perfect team anywhere. Any team is beatable. Last season Man City lost to Liverpool and Man U in EPL. I don’t see any reason why we can’t stand up to City. Let’s do a little analysis about that ‘ worrying defence’. What makes some people worried about a defence which has conceded just 3 goals in preseason games as follows: Atletico 1; PSG 1; Chelsea 1; Lazio 0? I think the main reason for ADMN and some of his friends is history. Their logic is that if we conceded so many goals last season then surely there can’t be a drastic improvement this season. Besides they argue that Mustafi is still around and Sokratis is as slow as a snail! But surely is defending all about speed? Wasn’t World Champion Per Mertesacker a good defender? If Sokratis is slow there are those around him who are fast. Also, there is a new senior right backer in Lichsteiner who is a hard tackler to protect the back line. What of the defensive midfield with Torreira and Guendouzi? Will they just look on as the defence is overrun? Lastly but most importantly there is a new dynamic manager Unai Emery. Surely aren’t these good points to make us a bit more confident? I admit we may lose the game but we shall not be annihilated as some people would want us to believe. We shall put up a good fight. I don’t read too much into pundits’ predictions about who will be where at the end of the season. They always make sham predictions.
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Pundits like Phil neville are the pits always finding faults with arsenal fc no doubt this season won’t be any diffrent.
I totally concur David….lovely post!
Man City last year was beaten by Liverpool (the other team in the league playing fantastic football and scoring for fun)
&
Man Utd (their ArchRivals)
We are way too far from them to be in that same league of beating them
Let’s be real and stop fantasing
They just beat Chelsea, a team with a better defense than our’s in the Community Shield
Next is Us – a team with a very poor defense AGAINST a team that
scores easily
Our defense can’t be sorted before then
What we can do is either sitBack and try to catch them unawares OR go allOut and try to outscore them (which is possible)
I have said it here before and i would say it again….arsenal will beat man city come Sunday… I’m beating on my chest confidently and saying that…i don’t see man city surviving at the emirates..no way!… We are not in the late years of wenger..fear no more!….. I see man city coming to emirates with so much confidence,feeling they can go for the three points…but i tell you guys when the match kicks off on Sunday and after ten minutes of that match man city will be crawling on their knees begging for a draw.. Remember this!!!
Still predicting a “walkover” it seems as another of your hyped posts excitedly informed us realists , last week. When will you ever get real? So we are to believe that after just ten minutes the reigning Prem chamions who beat Chelsea, and without some of their key players too, will be “begging for a draw.” I wish you were more famous as satirists on comedy shows would have a field day , were you better known. You are not Donald Trump , by any chance, as you share use his style of hyped language!
what the hell am I hearing???
Chambers being loaned out to Fulham?
I think that will be the biggest mistake ever this summer considering the fact that we lack good defenders. I don’t just agree with that, unless we are bringing in a quality defender
udom, surely this can only be because Unai and Sven have an experienced CB lined up, such as Vida or Boateng; otherwise I agree with you. Not long to go to find out!
I believe Arsenal can score against City. I think the key will be if we can keep them from scoring more than 1 goal. If we do, we can get points from this game and what a start to the season that would be.
Speculation is cheap at the moment. But, some things that seriously require attention is the removal of expensive players that are no longer part of Arsenal’s long time plans. Mustafi, Welbeck Ospina Koscielny Perez and Bellerin to name som of them.
I’ve been an Arsenal supporter for nearly 60 years can’t remember the last time the Club was in such turmoil. Very sad.
we are way stronger than last season
6 players signed
key players Laca, Auba, Mikhi settled in
junior players, AMN, Nelson, Mvpanos, Nketiah etc…. gained valuable experience last season
good summer rest
good preseason for most players
better defensive options
no contract issues on key players except for Ramsay hence minimal distraction
we will do very well
?I agree John; Boateng or Vida and Wifred Zaha would make my dreams come true.
Ramsey seems to have forgotten (like Van Persie before him) the patience shown by Arsenal through all his injuries.
I’m with you OG get one of the defenders and Zaha and we can have a good go this season
so true about your later comment on Ramsey + RVP
and i agree on Zaha that would be a dream signing
Ozzie, How true your Ramsey point is. As a realist, I have always been acutely aware that unlike fans, players do not care for their employer in the way we who love their employer do. That is natural, as players are different animals from us lot and as realists we should make due allowance for this clear truth. BUT it sticks in the throat when such as RAMSEY, who has gratefully pocketed huge wages for long sustained spells on the treatment table and therefore not working for his employers, then blithely expects huge rises as soon as they manage to string a decent run of games together. That is double standards and plain wrong. Ironically, this man who has a far higher opinion of his own ability than most of us fans hold, is once again injured just as we face a key match in a few days time. Overall, I would now be quite happy if he were to move on this week, even if we did not properly replace him(though I would rather we did). After a decade at Arsenal his real effectiveness boils down to a great first half season in 2013-14 and two FA Cup Final winning goals. Not nearly enough I’d say!
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its almost as if football is coming home, what a great summer .
Mr Rusa you hit the nail on the head , why are we so pessimistic about our chances against man city we have our strong points too its the team who wants best will carry the day, we can at least take a point from the game which I feel we can , COYGuuunnners.
The manager knows what he’s doing.
No shame in losing to City. Great timing to get this game out of the way. I would be more worried to play Spurs or Newcastle or Everton or some other team we really need to beat for our first game of the season.