After a season, the disappointment of which has been understated in my view, Arsenal get a chance here for everything to start over again. Finishing with some promising form last season, but still only in 8th, & not only dropping out of the Europa League, but out of European football altogether. Here Arsenal get a chance to turn things around. A new page of the rebuild chapter, or Same Old Arsenal?
Some fresh faces in Ben White from Brighton, Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht, & Nuno Tavares from Benfica – representing some honestly positive signings. The two from Belgium & Portugal very shrewdly made, and the newly England international an overpayment for an apparently very well specified need. All three could feature but we will likely see White & Lokonga both playing 90 each.
Mikel Arteta splitting opinions, as all high-engagement topics do, is seemingly set on his 4231. Don’t be surprised to see him marshalling a double #6 midfield base, and a Kieran Tierney higher than anyone over the space of the pitch in our build-up phase. The aim – as it was before – will be to keep the ball, and keep it on the deck during the build-up, except with the added element of raked long balls being readily made across the pitch to “create superiorities” from new additions Ben White & Sambi Lokonga.
The obstacle – a Brentford side fresh off a playoff promotion with Leeds ex-captain Janssen, & hot prospect danger-man the highly coveted Ivan Toney, still only given a less than 50% chance of taking any points at all by Scott Willis’ (@oh_that_crab) game simulation model – a 51.1% chance of a win for Arsenal’s redmen, & a small but significant 23.3% chance of a complete upset. But most importantly of all…
Welcome back to the Barclays, ladies & gentlemen.
@LehmannsTerms_
Positively Arsenal 
Great assessment and welcome back to the new season. Day one and you have to be positive COYG.
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What a nice piece: cautious optimism mingled with the ever-present spectre of utter despair. The moment I woke up this morning I knew the day felt different, but I suppose the one good thing about playing on Friday evening is that it gets it out of the way. Who is the referee by the way, not that it should matter but I can’t help but feel if anyone is likely to be on the wrong side of the new VAR interpretations it will be us. Make no mistake the eyes of the footballing world will be looking on and hoping for plucky Brentford to give The Arsenal a bloody nose.
Back in the day of course Brentford was most famous for nylon fitted sheets.
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Are The Gunners Ready For The Bees? As The Premier League Kicks Off https://t.co/Yo1euJRaKN
Good positive preview although the assumption that the Bees conceding and scoring lots of goals is based on them attacking teams that are weaker than them, so playing football and sometimes getting caught they may set up more cautiously tonight.
The other thing is our problem, which showed again preseason, is scoring goals.
I do expect to win but after seeing a big fat Mickey Quinn score a hat-trick against a league winning ARSENAL team in Coventry City’s demolition of us at home I can never trust first games of the season again.
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This is a fantastic preview, loved it. Thank you!
It’s a tough call whether the gang will get more thrills watching an arteta team play football or the finale of the Bad Batch season but I think the cartoons will win out.
If we only ever got a shot on target on average every thirty or fourth minutes when playing football with our mates as kids…we’d have found a different sport/game to play! This is simple stuff…let’s hope the fans get to see some of the football they deserve this season.
For most fans in spite of the vampires and blaggers it’s still about the fun they have watching the game not the trophies…which is why the blaggers were so far behind the fan base on Emery and now Arteta. Crippled by doing PR for the club but also because they haven’t got a scoobie about the footy.
Hopefully we see some good footy but the amazing new goalkeeping coach and post Wenger glorious revolution looks to have destroyed what was left of Leno, he does look shot to pieces atm and it’s a worry as the whole team gets unsettled. But hey that’s progress for you!
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Oh dear: seems as if both Auba and Lacazette are unwell. It’ll be interesting to see who starts for us in their place.
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Real shame Eddie and Joe are not available but Gabby and Ballagon are very good and can stake a claim unless Mikel decides to play Pepe down the middle.I suppose we could even play with an extra midfielder.
Actually Ainsley used to be a winger and we have two left backs who like to bomb forward so could play in front of each other so we have lots of options (including Willian)
Whatever we do on last year’s form Auba missing is not a problem just a bit worrying two players are “I’ll”
Still massively looking forward to it maybe even more if we use younger players.
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I see sky sports are reporting we are back in talks with Real over a deal for MO, I know he’s a good technical player but he didn’t pull up any trees and to a certain extent was outperformed by ESR (I know they can play together). I just think if we are short of funds he’s not a priority atm.
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Both my lads coming home for the weekend, one from Switzerland, one from Newcastle all three of us watching ARSENAL in the same room for the first time in ages so I’m getting really excited.
I seem to be talking to myself on here abit, I know George likes it but I feel like I’ve woken up early on Christmas day and no one else is up I just want to stick my social media finger in everyone’s ear.
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Good on yer Ian and have a good night!
COYG!
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Have a great one Ian! I’ve had the jitters all day to be honest. If its true that Balogun is starting, what an exciting opportunity for him to make his mark.
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And just to add to ian’s comment earlier, I liked what I saw of Odegaard last season so i would be happy if he came to us. But that is not the issue for tonight!
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As Eds not available
https://www.arsenal.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/images/WhatsApp%20Image%202021-08-13%20at%2018.55.55%20%281%29.jpeg?itok=nfhYogKA
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That’s as interesting line-up as we’ve had for a while.
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Hi Positivistas. The backbone of this blog is standing firm despite the disappointments of the past 5 years. I love you and George to bits. You should know this by now. Thanksx Ian for bigging up the Uncensored Arsenal livestream which is a project to bring us mature, sensible fans on YouTube and the new platforms. (Glad you have your boys with you Ian. Am jealous although mine are girls with zero interest in football.) Our voices are being drowned out by the same immature, hyperventilating crowd who promised us anybody but Wenger could make us challenge for the title. That turned out well, didn’t it?
I beseech you all to join with me and George to build up our YouTube channel so we at least have a presence on YouTube to challenge the daily nonsense on social media. Below is the link to day’s stream Remember to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE.
Enjoy today’s game.
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Ed obviously does it better.
Bernd Leno; Kieran Tierney, Pablo Marí, Ben White, Calum Chambers; Granit Xhaka, Albert Sambi Lokonga; Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith-Rowe, Nicolas Pépé; Folarin Balogun
COME ON THE ACADEMY
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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I’m back after a week off the grid and I’m greeted by this team selection
Team: Leno, Tierney, White, Chambers, Mari, Xhaka, Lokonga, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Martinelli, Balogun
Subs: Hein, Bellerin, Saka, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Soares, Tavares, Nelson, Elneny
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Hey Ed! Glad you made it back for the start. Cheers to Ian for the teams also.
COYG!
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Baptiste’s not playing so thats a bit of a relief.
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I wonder how Heins feeling? Most a one heck of a moment…
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anyone got a good stream for the game
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Interesting to see the way the oddsmakers have chalked this one. Earlier today Arsenal were a shade of odds on to win, with Brentford almost 5 to 1, the draw 16/5. Since the teams have been announced Brenford have shortened to 9/4 with the Arsenal a shade of odds against: the draw much the same.
And yet many fans have seen this line up as a more postive one. I suppose that over the years bookmakers bet on form in the book, punters are enticed by potential.
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Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
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i should have stayed in isolation
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that was all round woeful defending
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HT: Brentford 1-0 Arsenal
now that was not good to say the least
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Think it would be fair to say that we haven’t been able to control the ball in midfield as yet. Need a bit of extra in there: one or two of ours looking a bit lightweight just now. Still fancy us to go on and win this.
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Well obviously my son has just asked me why do we have to support Arsenal.
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…because we are deep down actually masochists!
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afcstuff
@afcstuff
Arsenal’s record under Mikel Arteta when losing at half-time in the Premier League:
14 matches
0 wins
4 draws
10 losses
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saka on for balogun, about 30 minutes left
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nelson on for martinelli, about 20 minutes left
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Great. Average Arsenal.
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well if the defending for the first goal was bad, the second one was even worse, leno more concerned with shoving a brentford player than actually going for the ball or doing something to stop the goal, 2-0 down, Arteta ball has been shite, is shite and looks like it might remain shite.
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tavares on for chambers, not long left, I’m thinking about asking the hospital will the let me back into isolation, for about 37 more games
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Yeah, it’s probably not going to get better under Arteta. What little confidence we had is going to be shot by September.
The second was a foul on Leno, but Brentford have had other chances so it’s no excuse.
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the less said the better about that shit show
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Now we arent in any Euro competitions Im glad we can concentrate on the league. I imagine every other fan base have had a right good laugh tonight.
One thing Brentford have is a strong 12th man if they want. They made their place into the cauldron of sweat. Decent treatment of Saka though.
Who knows where this will all go though? The tyranny of hope leads us on…
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Arsenal put down a marker for the rest of the season.
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Well it looked like men against boys tonight and that’s a worry if the much heralded ‘learn from the referreing in the Euros’ allows a more robust style to be the way forward. Because the players we have can’t compete if the refs are going to allow the more muscular approach to be the way forward.
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So dial back to last season and (if it wasn’t Arsenal) you’d have had a penalty on Balogun given in the first half and then a certain foul called for their second goal. Which is not to say we weren’t poor, but if it becomes less about skill and more about blood and thunder then we don’t ahve either the right players or the right approach.
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But more immediately it would seem that we need Lacazette (or a replacement) and we need a Centre Half who can win the ball in the air.
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Well God love me for a sucker but in light of the price of the tickets for the Chelsea match I’m taking my son as a post GCSE treat (he did OK considering) to see Reading play Preston NE tomorrow.
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Some mitigating circumstances, a lot of debuts out there, and not a lot of luck with illnesses and injuries but a truly awful performance. Know pre season games don’t really matter, it perhaps some clues leading to this “performance”
The next two League games are eminently losable , if that happens, a momentum may well build up to put Arteta in a very difficult position from which he may not recover.
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As each year goes by the beginning of each season gets more and more depressing. Brentford went into this game thinking they could win and we all thought the same. That speaks volumes in itself.
It isn’t quite Mayday and yes there were a few mitigating circumstances but by September we will be asking young players to lift the team and it is a real worry.
Supporters back in the stadium. Mmm trouble ahead.
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Every word from Arteta’s post-Brentford presser
Arsenal Media 13 Aug 2021
Arteta
Mikel Arteta was asked a variety of questions in his post-match press conference following our 2-1 defeat at Brentford on Friday night.
Topics covered including the team’s performance, the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, and if the nature of our display has created more urgency in the transfer market.
Read on for how he answered:
on our performance tonight…
Well, we are very disappointed to start the way we did this season. We had really high hopes and we didn’t get the result that we wanted or the performance we wanted.
on whether we conceded soft goals…
Yes.
on Aubameyang and Lacazette’s absence and how long they will be out for…
I don’t know, but I certainly don’t want to use any excuses. We had a team that we put out that’s good enough to play the way that we wanted to play and capable of achieving a different result.
on what he would say to the fans…
First of all, I want to thank them because the support that they’ve given to the team, all the travelling fans that were here, and after that apologise for the result. We know that we have to improve. We have two big games coming up and we need a different performance to get a different result.
on if a performance like that creates a sense of urgency in the transfer market…
My focus is on the players that we have – to make them play as well as possible and get the best out of the team, finding the way to win football matches, and certainly the next one.
on if Friday’s performance creates any more urgency in the market…
We are very clear of what we wanted to do, what our strengths are and where we can improve. I don’t think today’s performance shows anything different to what we’ve already seen.
on what’s being done to address Arsenal’s play in the final third…
I don’t think that tonight’s game is one to analyse [overly] given the circumstances we had on the day.
Copyright 2021 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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Problem for me analysing a game is that if we go behind my brain no function too good.
Real problem though is my complete lack of trust in officials. That, with the anger it brings, combined with the doom feeling when behind (justified now in a way as out record is wretched of recovering), and, phhh, not a pleasant experience, and really not sure I can analyse the action very well.
I feel like maybe we played a fair amount of decent football, getting into a fair amount of good positions, demonstrating some nice skills at times, especially through Smith-Rowe.
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There was one ten minute spell second half, well on top, playing brightly, getting it wide, stretching them…think a goal would have been so likely with a top notch striker with aerial threat on pitch
But to get results, it needs to be while coping with opponents being allowed liberties, while not getting pens we probably should, or anything- keeper fouled for 2nd for instance…and, well, we didn’t do that tonight.
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Carragher, Sky, English football pretty much, including the old Oliver, Dean, Riley trio in attendance, wanted a result like that.
A thing of joy: crowds are back, VAR is neutered, promoted side, passion, wild out of control challenges, Arsenal being bullied. Hurrah. It all ensures the odds weren’t what they should be. A disappointing defeat is rough enough, but combined with my beliefs, eech, hard to take.
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yeah rich, i doubt that second goal would have stood against any other big club in the EPL, also looked like a penalty for Balogun, oddly he made no fuss, almost as if he knew these PGMOL game managers don’t give them to AFC.
As for needing a top striker, well for me it might not need a top striker, just one that is tops at heading the ball, maybe even Tammy Abrahams could be good enough for that role, as things stand its sort of pointless getting Tireney to swing in cross after cross when none of our forwards want to head the ball, or battle for a high cross. Martinelli is very good at heading, but not in the center forward way, if you know what I mean. Jesus we really could do with a Giroud type, although an Adebayor type would suit Artetaball big time
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Agree, lots wanted that result, Carragher , a man who spits at the general public should be nowhere near our screens, but that’s Sky for you, I am sure woman beater, Stan Collymore ( he’s also reportedly a dogger an voyeur, but I guess at least that stuff involves consenting adults…hopefully) will also be given every possible platform to lay into Arsenal , but these days, the Team are far too ready to oblige those with an agenda, and make it easy for them. We still fall for stoke tactics after all these years and different managers and players.
Unfortunately. Arteta and his predecessor seemed more keen on picking fights with certain big players to assert their authority than actually moving things forward, I wonder if that’s the case with the strikers missing in this game, And hector, and others….time will surely tell? .
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