Good day all. It’s back to Premier League action for Arsenal with a trip to Carrow Road this afternoon for their clash against Norwich City; Freddie Ljungberg’s first game as interim coach following the sacking of Unai Emery. Whilst the Canaries come into this game on the back of an excellent 2-0 win at Everton; their first in eight league games.
Ensuing a run of two wins from 11 league games and none in our last seven (all competitions), Emery’s dismissal and provisional handing of the reins to Freddie didn’t came as too much of a surprise. As the club now starts the process to find the Spaniard’s potential long-term successor, the club legend has a shot to showcase what he can do with what still remains a very talented squad.
With our recent run leaving us eight points off 4th-placed Chelsea, Freddie’s immediate priority will be to get the Gunners returning to winning ways. For this he will need the buy-in from all players as well as his support staff to help the team moving onwards and upwards. Because a united response is crucial if we are to maintain any hopes of a top-four finish.
The next three games, today’s followed by Brighton and West Ham, are a decent looking run to build up a good bounce ahead of a very tricky festive schedule.
Norwich started their return to the topflight with two wins from their opening five games, including the prized scalp of Pep Guardiola’s star-studded Man City squad. Then it went downhill as they picked up a mere one point in seven matches; a miserable run that saw them concede 16 goals and scoring just two in reply. So Daniel Farke will be hoping for his sides clean sheet win at Goodison Park to be a step in the right direction to kickstart their bid for PL survival.
Team News
David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi picked up knocks midweek and will have their fitness assessed ahead of the game, with Hector Bellerìn also being monitored.
Prediction
Freddie had very little time with the players to get his ideas across, so for now it will just be about a return to basics with a focus on looking to address any ongoing issues. Being an unknown also brings an air of the unpredictable that can be used as an initial advantage in pursuit to ‘steady the ship’.
All things considered, both teams will be desperate for a win which could lead to a very open-game… so expect goals at both end. Here’s hoping for the “new manager bounce” to be on our side and maximum points to move within five points of top-four. COYG
— @LaboGoon
Positively Arsenal 
New manager bounce plus shackles off plus desire to impress probably equals a hard fought draw after soft penalty gifts the Canaries an undeserved lead.
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labo, David Luiz, Kolasinac, Bellerin and I think Mustafi all in training today.
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Paul Tierney is the referee for the game,
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Hope they have covered up the ridiculously unsafe camera pits around that ground, and hope the ref acts should our players to get pushed into them
But I am sure we will get the usual PGMOL hatchet job on the team just to welcome the new manager in
Can we break the record for penalties, especially soft penalties conceded this season? We are certainly heading for it
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Yo guys…
Just an observation; from Josh’s comments it seems the decision to sack Emery was taken a few weeks ago. No one can assume this was after the Leicester result. Josh was in town that time and its reported Raul, Vinai and Edu had a meeting with him afterwards in the States. After that Raul gave the “vote of confidence” in Emery saying he trust him to turn things around.
To me this suggest once again that Raul ran interference. As Mandy mentioned, it is his wings that need to be clipped and he need to be told to at least consider the counsel of those three older, hopefully wiser, boys sitting on the Arsenal board.
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Yo guys…
Just an observation; from Josh’s comments it seems the decision to sack Emery was taken a few weeks ago. No one can assume this was after the Leicester result. Josh was in town that time and its reported Raul, Vinai and Edu had a meeting with him afterwards in the States. After that Raul gave the “vote of confidence” in Emery saying he trust him to turn things around.
To me this suggest once again that Raul ran interference. As Mandy previously mentioned, it is his wings that need to be clipped and he need to be told to at least consider the counsel of those three older, hopefully wiser, boys sitting on the Arsenal board.
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Hopefully, the Emery thing, if as reported, is a very salutary lesson to the owners on Raul, should they be open to learning it that is.
Hasn’t helped emery either. Emery has done some good things in his career, he must have something, but turns out not right for us. I strongly suspect Emery was crying out for Nzonzi Banega, and it reports are true, Monchi for the very good reason he really needed such figures to succeed, but he was provided with different players and ultimately a different DoF. Seems Emery isn’t the most versatile of managers despite his tinkering.
As for Raul, really don’t like some of the managers names coming out, which have Rauls prints over them. What would José, Nuno, and from what I am now reading, Enrique add to this club?
Unless of course the Kroenkes are either putting their money in, or have some desire to bankrupt the club, if so, let Raul and his chosen 15 million a year manager go right ahead.
But for now, we move on to an exciting choice of temporary manager, hope the players are getting the buzz, if they do, they really are a very talented bunch
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Just a couple hours to go!
We love you Freddie, because you’ve got red hair, we love you Freddie, because you modelled underwear…..etc…etc
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Guess the team news will give an early indication of the way things are set to go. What interests me is finding out whether the players are as good as I think they might be, or whether they have been actually playing to their correct level over the past several months.
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Cannot substantiate, but strongly suspect some players were not at their full capability in recent weeks FH, perhaps due to tactics, instructions, or maybe other reasons, like resentment over their mates being thrown under a bus. Xhaka, Torriera, Ozil Mustafi will all have mates in that dressing room. Also, a little strange to make a guy captain who was refusing to sign a new contract, partly, we are told, over Emery.
Still, hopefully that’s all gone.
Unfair to expect miracles from Freddie, especially in his first game, but expect to see improvements over time
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Leno
Chambers, Mustafi, David Luiz, Kolasinac
Xhaka, Guendouzi
Willock, Ozil, Aubameyang
Lacazette
subs: Martinez, Sokratis, Tierney, Torreira, Pepe, Martinelli, Saka
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so Mustafi and Xhaka recalled to EPL action by Freddie
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NORWICH TEAM
Krul, Aarons, Byram, Godfrey, Zimmermann, Hernandez, Cantwell, Trybull, Pukki, McLean, Amadou.
Subs: Fahrmann, Roberts, Vrancic, Lewis, Buendia, Stiepermann, Srbeny.
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Ljungberg: “There were difficult decisions to be made, for example I left Reiss Nelson back home in London.
“For me it was really hard, he’s the future of this club, a great talent. But I had to leave him out. Those are the decisions you have to do as a manager.”
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Arsenal Women
@ArsenalWFC
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7m
HALF-TIME: Arsenal 5-0 Bristol City
An incredible first-half performance
🤩🏆@BarclaysFAWSL
Miedema with a hattrick and she also assisted both the other goals, scored by Evans and Williamson
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Come on Freddie, Come on the new era, COME ON YOU GUNNERS.
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DB
@DB_AfcHighbury
Ljungberg deserves time. It’s gonna take at least 3 years & 6 transfer windows to sort out the state Emery left the club in
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its now 8-0 to the Arsenal women, Miedema with 2 more(5 so far today) and Nobbs with the other
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Evans with her second to make it 9-0 on 60 minutes
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Arsenal Women
@ArsenalWFC
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31s
TWO HAT-TRICKS FOR @VIVIANNEMIEDEMA
!
Yes, you read that correctly… TWO HAT-TRICKS FOR @VIVIANNEMIEDEMA
!
🤯
🔴
10-0
⚫
(66) | @BarclaysFAWSL
🏆
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Arsenal Women
@ArsenalWFC
·
1m
A LITTLE BIT OF MAGIC FROM @EMSMITCH3
!
😁
🔴
11-0
⚫
(79) | @BarclaysFAWSL
🏆
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puki puts norwich ahead
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penalty to Arsenal, an ozil ball in is handled by a norwich defender, VAR looking at it, the norwich player is claiming to have been pushed
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Aubameyang has his penalty saved, fucks sake
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going to be retaken, as norwich player in the area too soon
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Aubameyangggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg scores it, 1-1
VAR looking at it
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1-1 come on the Arsenal
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wtf are Norwich fans on about same old Arsenal always cheating? Their players dont know the fkin rules. Duuuuh!
Same old shit teams, always bleating.
COYG!
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Norwich break away fast and make it 2-1, we are just so open at the back its unreal
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HT: Norwich 2-1 Arsenal
Been on top most of the half without creating a lot, Norwich took the lead, Aubameyang leveled with a twice taken penalty, and right at the end Norwich take the lead again.
The lack of pace in midfield and at the back is our undoing.
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Unfortunately, neither Freddie nor anyone else is going to cure our defending over night.
I suspect the likes of Allegri wouldn’t go anywhere near this!
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Morning!
Very positive signs. The boys are playing the Arsenal way and it can only improve.
Ed, I think it’s more about balance than pace. The players need to a bit more cautious. I think having a DM on would improve that. Torreira I think.
Still feel very positive. It will take a while for a complete Emeryball detox and for Freddie to find the proper balance.
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We are attacking a lot more with good movement. Couple of good saves from their keeper.
Defense will take some time but Per is there. So that’s great.
Most exciting match I’ve seen in a while.
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aubameyang leveled the game at 2-2 from an Ozil corner.
leno has made a couple of great saves to keep us level.
Torreira on for Willock
Saka or Sako as BBC are calling him has come on for Guendouzi.
about 15 minutes to play
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our final sub is Martinelli for Ozil with a few minutes left to play
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Leno with another fine save
four minutes of stoppage time to be played
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Leno with a big save again
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FT: Norwich 2-2 Arsenal
came from behind twice to get a draw. We had our most shots in any away game this season.
Too open at the back, Leno made a string of fine saves to keep us in the game. We are 8th in the table, 7pts off CFC in 4th
Guendouzi taken off for the first time in his AFC career.
Abuabmeyang with both our goals. We certainly attacked more than of late, but it was two dead ball goals for us today. A real lack of speed in midfield and defense is a big concern.
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Well, it is obvious that Emery was the problem. Freddie said we need to the Arsenal way and have fun, means we were not playing the Arsenal way and the players were not enjoying themselves.
My thoughts: Disappointed how we ended but feeling positive overall.
Just how we could see the bad the many good results so you can see the good in a decent result.
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Ed, Guen looked shocked to me.
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Pepe not even getting on as a sub is a worry, our £72M record signing is not having a good time of it
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well paul I hope he gets an even bigger shock for our next match.
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Me too!!!
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Leno has made more saves than any goalie in the EPL this season,
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Watched it in a restaurant with a small screen far away. But the movement looked much better than the recent past.
Passing was a lot quicker and also closing down. Though we didn’t track the late run for both goals. Midfield is a bit too slow.
Good signs. Of course Freddie has hardly had any time with them.
Happy we got a penalty and also that it was retaken for the encroachment when Auba missed.
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At least they really went for it up front, could easily have won it, but so could they,lucky to have Leno.
Our defending as a team is going to need, well who knows…confidence? Returnees? Intensive Coaching? Different players? Maybe even a major project . Whatever it is, it won’t happen over night, something has set in, and it is not helping the team.
Could be a tough few weeks with the Xmas fixtures, but really hope we start improving, otherwise it’s going to be a long hard season.
We are at the start of a new cycle, just glad we have coaches that really understand the club now.
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Better. First 20 we were playing well. Still leaning towards next manager having hell of a tough job on their hands though.
Not been a prominent issue for us of late, but today harked back to teams being happy to sit and wait in their defensive third, and to feast on space as we push forward.
I don’t think we have the personnel to deal well with it. Despite the final third talent we have, not sure it is of right nature to carve out lots of good chances against sitting teams, and on the defensive side, managing spaces, just yikes.
Glad Emery’s gone and we’re a stage on in process of finding formula that really works but it could be a while, with plenty of comings and goings.
Course, chances would’ve been much higher if their guy had got deserved red. In VAR era, should have been impossible for him to stay on pitch for that.
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Freddie Ljunberg’s first after game press conference
Ljungberg on managing Arsenal
“I was proud but I think we started well and I expected us to take the lead.
“It’s easy to see what we have to work on.
“I’m extremely proud of the players for coming back twice. The end of the game was too open for my liking.”
Ljungberg on the response
“What I saw in the first 30 minutes was good.
“When we went down the players’ heads didn’t drop but they wanted to sort it out and that is good.”
Ljungberg on bedding in
“I’m just trying to make it as simple as possible.
“I’ve been here last year and of course I have an opinion on how we can play and everyone has a fair chance.”
Ljungberg on the defence
“We have a problem on the transition and I want to fix that.
“I hope the club knows what I can and can’t do. I’m very honoured they have trusted me to do this.”
Ljungberg on top four
“Top four is 100% achievable.
“We are working on the backroom staff.”
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Freddie’s last comment about “we are working on the backroom staff” sounds like he could be here for a while.
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Looking at stats from few games yesterday on BBC and they have Chelsea down as making 0 – zero- in their game yesterday. Never seen that before.
They are a way less dirty team than their Mourinho flith highs but that’s an amazing figure. Got to compare it to all the years of us being clean against dirty, lower-end-of-table, fighting-for-survival opposition at home and still ending up with more fouls than them, etc.
Doubt we could get a 0 even if we stood off opposition and refused to go within touching distance of them.
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