So the great new dawn is upon us. We have rid ourselves of Arsene Wenger and his gang of incompetents, and replaced them with high class people that can bring us the success we deserve.
It’s absolutely fantastic. The players are drinking water, smiling,training hard, young players are involved and the manager is hands on on the training ground. These things never happened before , now did they?
That there have been major changes in personnel is undeniable. That they are all top people in their fields of expertise appears to be the case, they are certainly experienced with good track records. Its more people with more individual responsibility and a coach with much less. Modern football? Or should I not say that because “modern football” is frowned upon by the “we want our Arsenal back” hoards. But I digress.
The point is almost every fan is happy, us included, the future looks bright. But what has actually changed other than our perceptions?
We have spent about £70m up until now, I suspect there will be outgoing and our net spend will be considerably less. So are we spending more? Is the new regime spending the money Arsene refused to? Seems not ?
Have we dipped into the £250m in the bank that should be spent on making the team as good as it can be? Seems not ? Perhaps that’s not for spending then, or not anywhere like that figure?
Are we competing for the likes of Marhez ,with City, or are we still buying from the second shelf ? It seems we are not and we still are ! So what’s the big change?
Have we tied Aaron Ramsey down to a new deal, or is it dragging on? Dithering?
Now here is the rub, the moment many readers start shifting uncomfortably on their seat, searching for an answer that doesn’t destroy all their hard earned narratives.
If you are happy with all things Arsenal now, you have a certain Stan Kroenke to thank.
Without spending any more of the clubs money, and of its reserves ,or dipping into his own pocket for a single silver dollar, he has given everyone what they wanted ? Without being a football man or spending time at the club he has granted the wishes of the permanently malcontent.
His useless puppet (Ivan) is now the dogs bollocks. We are Kroenke FC , being driven by Ivan, and he is the very image of a none football man.
So if everything is rosy in the garden, and I hope it is, then we should be very much KROENKE IN ? He has come through big time and perhaps all the hate was for nowt?
Positively Arsenal 
Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
1h1 hour ago
Smith Rowe on the bench along with Bellerin, Sokratis, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Guendouzi and Aubameyang.
Monreal, Jenkinson, Perez, Martinez and Campbell not in the squad.
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Matt Macey made his debut for loan side Plymouth in a 2-1 loss to Walsall. He saved a penalty but Walsall scored from the rebound.
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Nacho Monreal misses this evening’s friendly against Lazio due to a “slight niggle”
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HT: Arsenal 1-0 Lazio
Nelson with our goal, Lazio probably have had the better chances. Iwobi very lively,
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https://talksport.com/football/406242/keith-hackett-premier-league-video-assistant-referee-var/amp/
“It’s the biggest clanger the Premier League have ever dropped,” Hackett told talkSPORT.
“They’ve got a reputation of bringing things forward; the communication kits they supported and they helped referees, they introduced goal-line technology ahead of the game.
“VAR is never going to be an absolute answer to all errors through the course of a game, but it will help referees.
“I think we’re short of match officials in the Premier League, and we are going to have fun, because over the next few months we, as spectators and pundits, are going to be criticising those decisions that are made incorrectly, and we are going to be calling for VAR.”
Hackett may have suggested the public will be having fun over the next few months due to the Premier League’s misstep, but he actually believes it will only take until the first gameweek for the decision to not implement VAR to backfire.
He continued: “It defies logic! I mean, who makes these decisions?”
Some would suggest that the former head of the pgMOB is anti-English football because of these comments. Such a weak and useless smear would be just a little bit weird!
The quotation above humbly matches that which has been repeated here for years.
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Guendouzi and Aubameyang on for Nelson and Nketiah
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60 minutes Ozil, Nkhitaryan, Elneny and Bellerin on for Lichtsteniner, Torreira, Iwobi and Xhaka
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Aubameyang makes it 2-0, Elneny with a charging run into the area, ball runs back out to Aubameyang on edge of the area and he fires home, maybe a little deflection on it
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Sokartis, Mavraponos and Smith-Rowe on for Chambers, Holding and Lacazette
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FT: Arsenal 2-0 Lazio
Nelson and Aubameyang with our goals, controlled long spells of the game. Lazio had a few chances, but I don’t think they made Leno make a save. It seems under Emery we are going to play out from the back regardless of the pressure. Team was composed in possession today. Still a bit of sharpness to come.
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Eduardo, I’m trying not to read anything into what I’ve seen in pre-season. Lazio are behind us in their preparation, but better finishing could have given them a very different result. We won’t really know anything until we play a few real games where the result means something.
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that’s the end of our preseason games, and I’m no closer to knowing what our starting 11 will be next Sunday v Man City.
No idea which of Cech of Leno will be in goal,
Not sure who our CB duo will be, think it will be Sokratis and Mustafi.
Looks like AMN will be left back as he is last man standing, Kolasinac injured and Monreal with a niggle meaning he has played no minutes in preseason.
I’d expect Bellerin at right back.
With Ramsey having a little injury, its hard to know who starts in midfield, even how many we will play, as in preseason we have used all sorts of formations and partnerships. Will today’s hour be enough to see Torreira start, has Guendouzi done enough to earn a start, he has looked very good so far, but we have to remember it is only preseason, how will the lad do in the real thing.
Aubameyang looks odds on to start, as does ozil, but what of Mkhitaryan and Lacazette, not to mention Iwobi who has looked really fired up in preseason.
will we see any more incoming by Thursday 5pm,
I think we can expect to see a number of outgoings by then, lots of rumors abound about Campbell, Perez, Jenkinson, ospina, and even Welbeck.
Oddly despite those question marks and also Ramsey contract situation, the fan base in general seem very calm and happy about out transfer window, if AW was still in charge this same situation would be treated as a disaster. Don’t get me wrong, for me the way the fan base is reacting so far this summer, is exactly how it should be, and should have been under the last manager too.
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Pressing Matters
Last thoughts on this topic.
The best football teams press when they need to, soak it up when they need to, rarely to they stay in the same posture for 90 minutes. And it’s probably been that way for about a hundred years.
The gegenpressing fanatics have in their own words as per the quote above a little bit bipolar attitude towards this topic.
Tonight the team pressed in different ways during the 90 minutes no chance that I could explain this to anyone in any detail as I don’t l know how it really works. However what was easy to predict and expect was the quick passing out the back with different tempos and variations (sometimes direct sometimes short). Similar to an arsenal team when playing without a Giroud/Welbeck or Adebayor at CF.
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Arsenal U18’s drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich u18’s earlier today
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I haven’t watched any of the above reviews before but I enjoyed the review of today’s game. Tactics board was great! A Wengerian 424 type set up to start, I had the same impression.
I believe that HM7 can play in midfield three if AR8 is unavailable, at least I’d like to see it! Unlikely against City but it may happen later on in one or two games.
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Emery: We are currently focusing only on the willingness to meet Man City, the club may have to sell some players.
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Emery on his first XI and the transfer deadline
Chris Harris 04 Aug 2018
Emery speaks to the press
Will Lucas Torreira and Stephan Lichtsteiner get the nod against Manchester City? Will there be any comings or goings before the transfer deadline? And who will be our No 1 at the start of the season?
Unai Emery was asked all those questions in his post-match press conference in Stockholm. Here’s how he answered them:
on whether his new signings have a chance of playing against Manchester City…
It’s a different match today for Lichtsteiner, Xhaka and Torreira. We want to give them these minutes for fitness and also so that they’re working together and tactically can start to work with us. In the first week it’s clear that they’re not at their best physically, but we want to continue working with them and if they are OK physically, mentally and in their performances, and better also than other players who were working with us, we could choose them in the first XI.
on what he learnt from the Lazio game…
Each match is giving us information to continue to improve and continue to develop. Today we played with 4-4-2, to try this system and tweak our mentality, style and ideas, but for me in the first half the possession with the ball and control with the ball wasn’t as good as I wanted. It’s for that reason that we started the second half with three midfielders. I think in the second half we controlled the match better with this system. Today we tried in the second half and second half to choose the best system with the best players and best ideas, but I’m happy with this performance because they are working very well and improving also.
on whether he will sign anyone before the window closes…
My focus is on the first match and preparing, and not for the window and the possibility to sign another player. Maybe we need some players to leave because we have lots in the squad, but at the moment, my one focus is on our work.
on who his No 1 will be…
The best for the team is to have the best goalkeeper with the best performances. Every match we’ve had good performances from Petr Cech and Bernd Leno and also from Emi Martinez, and for that I am happy. I am on the lookout for who will start in the first XI.
Copyright 2018 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
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Last goal is fantastic.
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Eduardo @9:12pm, last paragraph; I say preach, preacher!!!
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There we are. Hector’s got himself a vegan buddy (both started around same time by sound of it). Exact same route as my brother- down to the wife supplying the food at home and the documentaries.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6024761/Chris-Smalling-reveals-vegan-diet-bid-Manchester-United-mainstay.html
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Wondered who would be first with ‘Litchsteiner for captain’ & sure enough there it is on Football.London
http://www.football.london%2Farsenal-fc%2Fstephan-lichtsteiner-arsenal-latest-news-14991811
A bit previous doncha think?
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New post is up
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