Good day Positivistas.
With 11 games into the season, eight of them in the Premier League, I think it’s fair to say that the Unai Emery era is now well and truly under way. It hasn’t been without pause for concern though, especially in defence but with the slickness of our attack it has moved from the front of our minds. Thankfully not Unai’s as he said he is working with the players on tightening things up, so best to leave him to it then.
Now the main story surrounding Arsenal going into the international break hasn’t been the barnburner of an attacking display vs Fulham, nor Aaron Ramsey’s goal of the decade but rather a section of the away support at Craven Cottage singing “we got our Arsenal back”. I’m not going into their reasons for singing it and the stupidity of it all, however I do acknowledge that there’s a real positive buzz around the club and match going crowd at present.
After the disappointments of the last two PL campaigns, finishing 5th and 6th respectively with an FA Cup win the highlight, it do feel like we are turning the right corners at the moment. Maybe it’s the new manager bounce, having new voices and faces amongst the coaching staff… whatever it is, it is something new, refreshing and reminiscent of the great Wenger years combining well with some Spanish flair.
Last season wasn’t complete trauma though as only Mancity had a better record than us in home PL fixtures, but it was our results on the road that has been the cause of frustration. So for Unai to have us collect three out of four wins on our travels, after winning only four in nineteen last campaign, it is already an indicator that this team is on the ups.
The mentality of the players were also questioned many a times, not so thus far. In the six game winning PL run the boys shown great resilience to come out at halftime with great desire to get us over line. Who can forget even in defeat to Chelsea how we fought very hard till the final whistle?
Following a slow start to the season Lacazette and Aubameyang look like they’re developing quite the lethal partnership that can be a handful for any defense, even the younger players have grabbed some of the headlines. Lucas Torreira has just been a source of inspiration with his ability to guard the midfield bulldog-esque and Holding, coming in for the injured Sokratis, has been amongst the top three performers on each matchday he played. Alex Iwobi has earned the praise of some of his harshest critics, Mattéo Guendouzi are just a bundle of youthful excitement and Hector Bellerín is now a seasoned professional.
There’s no doubt that Unai got a great head on his shoulders and that the players are responding to his managerial philosophy.
Some are asking if Arsenal can be seen as PL title contenders being a mere two points behind the early log leaders after a quarter of the fixtures gone. Well I think it is too early to make such pronouncements, however qualifying for next years Champions League may now be a genuine expectation… if José continue to self-destruct at Manutd and we only have Totnum to battle it out with for 4th spot.
With the current form of this group of players, the mood in and around the club and our uncanny ability to slip under the radar… I don’t think we have reason to feel inferior to anybody.
@LaboGoon
Positively Arsenal 
The team’s gelling and it’s clear Unai knows a thing or two about coaching. Winning can only breed confidence and when you also get the run of the green you start to believe. I think we are going to have a special season with a number of success stories Iwobi Gwendouzi Torreira Sokratis Emile Nketia even the Ramsey saga will one of the way or the other lead to an opportunity.
I am really enjoying this season
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Nice positive article tempered with realism, great read.
Emery has had a good start, yes, there is work to be done, but for now, it is encouraging.
Agree with the new manager bounce,and as mentioned, almost a complete overhaul of the coaches.
The good, an excellent coach with a pretty decent pedigree , clearly very meticulous and demanding ( and no, I am not saying his predecessor wasn’t all those things) some very decent attacking play, players confident, clearly enjoying their game. Some astute signings, the club doing well at other levels than the first team, and then, this magnificent run. I love the way heads don’t drop when things go wrong, like a sloppy equaliser for Fulham right on half time. Some players look fitter, stronger, and to have improved. And then,there is Torriera.
Notes of caution, work is needed on defending as a team, we will see how they react to unexpected setbacks and defeats. Could the new manager bounce wear off. Are expectations being raised to unrealistic levels with some. Could new training methods if some are to be believed (personally i think there is a large element of legacy trashing at work) , more demanding training cause winter injuries?
Still, to hell with the negative, a lot to enjoy in the moment. and long may it continue.
Very encouraging read as well, Eduardo.
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Good evening Labo and you are very swift out of the trap,
I’m not sure whether there was any AFC talking point during the interbreak – Reiss Nelson’s goal was a bit tasty and Jose’s FA charge were about my limit.
Thank goodness the PL is back on though waiting until Monday will be a strain. We have had some v good battles with Leicester of late. They have lost a lot of good players but are still awkward to beat.
Slow and unspectacular accumulation of points – more of that Monday – 2-0 yet again would be ample.
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Aren’t we contenders for the top four every season. After qualifying for CL for 20 odd years we then just missed out by a point. Even last season we were still in the mix for a long while, so being a contender for top four is pretty much mundane for us.
This season the 48 games in December will make or break alot of teams. For us the games after away euro games will be difficult for us especially in the later stages. How we deal with these will be decisive so for now we should just enjoy the ride
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I believe Arsenal under the new boss have every chance of finishing in the top 4.
Tactically he is much,much much better than the fm.
The latter could be become BM manager. But rest assured he wont have 22 years or even 22 months if he keeps losing big games by big margin.\
Of course these are early days but I am convinced the Spaniard is a more pragmatic coach than Wenger. According to reports,the fm doesn’t let gunners know the strengths and weakness of opponents.This is very arrogant and naïve.
When you go to war you must know your enemys strength.now your enemy and thyself.
That’s why the fm record against the big teams is very disappointing and at any club would have been fired ages ago not withstanding 2004 triumph.
COYG. Keep the winning rolling
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It’s been as good a start as we could have reasonably expected with a complete restructuring of the club with major changes in key areas, not least throwing off the Wenger comfort blanket.The players appear to be well satisfied with the more demanding coaching methods (no complaints via social media that I’ve heard of anyway) and even embracing the extra work loads Unai has imposed on them. Our current league position isn’t in any way false or misleading; it’s where we deserve to be and I would expect it to be at least maintained.
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Ian if it came across if I implied that qualifying for CL weren’t the expectation, it was unintended. Of course Unai’s aim has been to get us back there, with how we are playing now there’s this sense that missing out is our to lose with us in a favourable pole position.
Many pundits saw us at the bottom of the pile amongst the top 6 at the start of the season, but are slowly coming around that there are more to this Arsenal team than initially thought. The current positivity in and around the current too is helping a lot to unlock that extra 5-10% in the players.
And of course the period now until the new year is going to be a tricky one, but if we can navigate our way safely through it, keep on dispatching clubs at the lower end as we currently do, be more cautious against Bournemouth, Wolves, Leicester and even Palace who has it in them to cause an upset result and perhaps play not to lose against teams at the top end, who knows… who might as well go for the whole chibang if things are still as tight as currently on the log.
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If the improvement shown against Fulham is maintained and taken further, we will be fine,but lets not pretend we have played well in these 9 games. We could easily have lost 4 or 5 of them on the balance of play. Our chance conversion rate and the opponents chance conversion rate will return to the norm sooner rather than later, so we have to make more chances and concede less.
We must look at the quality of play and not let results fool us.
Still, that said, the Fulham game was a big step in the right direction, at least the second half was.
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We have also learned a bit about the Europa and Emery’s experience in that second tier has helped – the Thursday/Sunday combo has been no obvious hurdle.
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Sir Alex once said that if you wanted to win the league your aim should be to beat the bottom 13 teams home and away, something that should not be beyond the scope of top sides, and then you find yourself with 26 wins, 78pts, meaning you normally only need 12pts, from the remaining 12 games to get to 90pts for the season, and little more than that is ever needed to win the title.
too much stock is put into winning against top 4 or top 6, its the pts dropped against the other 13 sides that seals your faith. AFC missed out on top 4 last season, not cos we dropped pts to Man City, Man Utd, CFC, spurs, LFC, but more so cos we lost games and points to six of the bottom 7, including all 3 relegated teams
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Our problem last season was the results at Swansea Stoke, relegated, Brighton, Bournemouth, Watford and Newcastle. A lot of those games we even had a lead only to fold up. Even the point at the Hawthorns- yes yes I know it was all Mike Deans fault we could only score one goal against the Pardew shitshow – was not to standard.
20 points between them – ouch.
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anicol that is exactly the point I was making, beat the lesser teams, and you are 90% there, it then only takes reasonable results against the other top 6 sides to be in title contention. This run we are on has seen us beat everyone we should be beating, we need to continue that season long, and then see how we do against the other top sides. We soon face LFC, MU and THFC, and will then know if there is real improvement or not. Beating who we should beat is a great start, it needs to continue and lead to good results v the top sides too.
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anicol that 20pts would have seen us finish 2nd
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Laura Sports Law
@laurasportslaw
Netherlands & Belgium considering merging their top-level leagues to form a cross-nation league to improve strength of domestic game & keep more domestic players in the region. UEFA would have to support the proposal & are said to be open to suggestions.
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on the thursday/sunday thing, I see Emery had our first team play our u23’s on Thursday as he does not like our players to go too long without a game, so it seems he is not worried about burn out or overload or fixture congestion, only hope he is right and we don’t see a major tail off in later part of the season.
I see Raul Sanheili says he is not a fan of the January transfer window, he does not rule out us doing business in it, but he feels that its for emergency deals, where you have lost someone to injury, also said doing business then is akin to admitting you got your summer business wrong.
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Good points. It’s so easy to become complacent against the bottom 13 teams by having your head anywhere else except the game. So learning how to stay focused and become proper flat track bullies is the first necessary steps to get you to when you wanna be. And it’s the momentum and confidence from that games that you take with you into games against teams at the top end.
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Hoping the continued emergence of Torriera , alongside GX will eventually add balance and iron out some of the flaws in some games.
Win one more and we hit double figures, a nice rounded significant number, our own decima, the number of the latest iPhone, now that would be something to shout about, but expect a stiff test from Leicester, they will feel aggrieved at one or two recent results at our ground, despite vardys clear and rewarded diving, and ex player Drinkwater getting away with clear reds in at least one of those games.
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Real Madrid 1 – 2 Levante
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Dan Critchlow
@afcDW
1m1 minute ago
Arsenal u18s beat Reading 4-2 in the early Saturday kickoff. Folarin Balogun scored a hat-trick, Stanley Flaherty got the other goal.
Assists for Flaherty, Harry Clarke and Matthew Smith. Karl Hein made his academy debut in goal.
Another good result for the youngsters.
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60 minutes got Nuernberg 1 – 2 Hoffenheim
Nuernberg led 1-0 at half time, but two goals by Reiss Nelson has Hoffenheim in the lead
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Poor old Jose – do they have a straitjacket in club colours or a padded dugout
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west ham have late goal ruled out for offside
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Something I’ve been wondering; who Is iDibs?
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You’re driving me mad!!!
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According to the radio, Huddersfield had a pretty clear penalty not given their way.
Sounds like the Spuds have loris to thank for their win.
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did they also have a goal ruled out wrongly for offside, picture below
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HT Strasbourg 1 – 0 Monaco
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https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/england-spain-fans-seville-nations-league-racism-football-lads-alliance-southgate-goals-a8587476.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true
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FT Strasbourg 2 – 1 Monaco
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Incredible how well Nelson’s loan is going at the moment. The four Hoffenheim goals are all nice, and different, finishes as well, same with the two U21 goals.
As a point of comparison, Asano, who had a fine compilation from his time in Japan, has 17 caps, and showed flashes of ability when I watched Stuttgart games…think he has about seven goals in his two and a bit years in Germany.
Hard to put my finger on what is different in Germany that makes it an excellent place for technical young players to develop. Less filth is the obvious one, but have also been struck over the years by something equally important- games tend to be at least a bit more open and end-to-end out there, with less long balls.
Weeks to come will show if this is a mad purple patch for Nelson, or if we’ll be getting back a 19 year old with ten or more goals top division goals under his belt already, who is primed to be big player right away next year.
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Really decent, positively optimistic piece, Labo.
We’re close to 10 PL games in now, with a couple of Interlulls thankfully behind us and at least the initial ‘new manager bounce’also dissipating as the new routines are now fully bedded in and the new staff and players no longer strangers to each other or their environs.
Another couple of decent results will see more open and confident talk of a top four finish especially as Manure’s team spirit continues to collapse alongside their own expectations; it’s presently all to easy to see AFC surge ahead of the half-submerged Jose who continues to flail away on the touchline in the most entertaining of idiotic ways. It’s all too easy to us AFC replace MU at the helm of the division.
I agree with George that there is evidently much work to be done at the back but the green shoots of defensive resilience and a very welcome ‘never say die’ attitude does appear to have taken a hold amongst this largely new group.
Of course, it will be how this group reacts to the set-backs and the acidicly corrosive nature of our unreconstructed fanbase that will be the real measure of how robust our new-found confidence has become.
And for that, we must wait and see.
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Not forgetting the departure of Vic Ackers has clearly had a huge positive effect on the squad
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Thanks Labo,
The best thing about the new gaffer is that his footy is essentially the same as the old gaffer’s! He is in his own words a student of the old master. Hehe. And he also has the same problems when trying to keep the best footballers in the league at the Arsenal. As with the old gaffer, I won’t blame him for not being the owner-manager of the club.
Perhaps a change in gaffer was required before the multitude of blaggers could focus on the occasional apparent 442 formations at times over the last decade, and not spend all as I literally all of their time slagging off the greatest manager in the history of the club. But then again they can’t even “esplain” to their readers that UE was playing such variations in pre-season, so perhaps I am being too optimistic here?
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https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/72038
Nice post from Tony.
Would be most peculiar for someone to failin their suggestion that he has forgotten how to enjoy the game. Of being anti-English. Very. Odd. Scraping the outside of the bottom of the barrell.
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In all this discussion, nobody has mentioned the 800 pound gorilla in the room, the PGMOL. They and the PL have their own agenda and as I discussed in my latest blog (http://uniteforvar.com/?p=1336), in the words of Mr Riley, his primary concern with respect to VAR is to minimize interference, not to get the big decisions right. In a sport where the big decisions such as penalties or offsides usually decide a game (Arsenal vs West Brom last season comes to mind), a ref can be 96% right ,if we are to believe Riley’s unsubstantiated statistic, but the 4% wrong can be decisive. With getting to the top-4 now equivalent to a trophy I foresee a lot of PGMOL shenanigans between now and next May. Trust the data.
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I trust we shall see Mesut back, fully rested and back in order, tomorrow. Leicester are a bit more sophisticated than some of our recent opposition. It may be his brain will be required to lever open the Fox defence for whom
Chilwell earned some good reviews. Has anything official been said on our German conductor ?
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anicol he is back in full training as is AMN
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Reading Ladies v Arsenal women is live now on BBC RB 1
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3 minutes, 1-0 to the Arsenal women, Miedema with her 10th goal of the season
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6 minutes, 2-0 to the Arsenal women, Nobbs
Arsenal have already had three or four great chances to score, apart from the two goals
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with Nelson having started so well in Germany, many are suggesting that its time Nketiah was fixed up with a loan move out there too. He is not getting game time at Arsenal so far this season, and he does seem to be at the stage where he is in need of regular first team football somewhere to progress and be in contention for a role in our first team next season.
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Charlton boss Lee Bowyer on Krystian Bielik: “Krystian reads the game so well for someone so young. He doesn’t panic. He dribbles past people and I’m thinking “don’t do that!” but he does it and that’s the confidence of the lad.”
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3-0 to the arsenal women, Mead
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HT: Reading Ladies 0-3 Arsenal Women
Miedema, Nobbs and Mead with our goals
3 goals scored, another ruled out for offside, and six or seven great chances too, Reading with one good chance, so really its been a very dominant performance so far from our womens team.
Birmingham and CFC drew meaning we are on course to open up a bigger gap on two of our main rivals. Sadly Man city are on course for a win.
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Mandy don’t scoff at the effect of Akers going, we now will be rid of Puma, and have Adidas back as kit makers next season, it is clear Vic was the reason we had Puma in the first place.
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early second half Miedema makes it 4-0
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5-0 Van DeDonk
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