Hello all.
In this podcast we try to make sense of the shocking first half performance from the team and certain players. Was Arteta at all to blame? Was it just a bad day? A blip? Were we even as bad as people think?
We certainly got more questions than answers.
Pedantic George
Positively Arsenal 
I sure enjoyed the pod, some interesting points covered, thanks for doing it guys. I wondered how much the break affected us-teams more advanced than ours might not be as much. But hopefully the Guns can raise their game.
One thing I dont like about Arteta time and its this; he doesnt pull at PA. If this would have been still in the Weng years there would have been many view points and posters. Now it feels like last stand hill, Im not having a pop,and life is ebb and flow anyway, its just I liked reading what you all had to say.
Perhaps its just the time we’re in or something else is up, other than things being much less interesting than they were some years ago?
Sure hope everyones ok though?
COYG!
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Mills, I totally agree but I think many people have just moved on. Although we all had different opinions as a site we were defending the most successful manager in our history against an illogical lunatic fringe who’s numbers were swelled by a media that loved to wind the key and see them run.
As the bland Mikel has washed into all areas, not just his football, but the media and criticism against him are all lukewarm.
As George days he might not like Mikel but he won’t criticize him for no reason, that just didn’t happen under Arsene the attacks were “just because”
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How many Positivistas have “moved on” after Wenger? I often wonder about that miself. Seems to me the extreme anti-Wenger provoked the extreme pro-Wenger and I count myself in the latter. Now it is all about supporting the club without going to extremes. Unfortunately that is not part of the DNA of the average football fan. We have been psychologically conditioned to go to extremes; e.g. to be pro or anti-Arteta without regard to the fact. No wonder the AFTVs of this world have to invent a hate figure so as to gin up extreme reactions. Is there a place for commonsense in this paradigm?
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“Hate” seem to start with the Premier League. I can never remember former players publicly slagging the current players or the club they were supposed to love for that matter.
Watching the old big match only backs this up, it seems to be an invention by the money media that came along with the PL and attracted fans who thought it was there job to criticize their own club.
Ok its no coincidence that the smaller clubs that grace the PL for only a few seasons have the better fans and back their club even when their losing and the bigger clubs who unless they win the league every year moan like fuck.
As for Mikel he has come to the club at a very lucky time for him however his time will come when the boo boys will be baying for his blood.
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Burnley just beaten Everton and Everton’s run in is really shit. With a bit of luck they might get relegated and we can rightfully take our place as the team longest in the division after the match fixing scandal that kept Everton up and sent Sheffield United down in the 90s.
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Just rechecked that and actually Everton would have to be out of the top flight for 13 seasons for us to overtake them oh well.
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I think the international break did make a difference and its always so annoying when momentum is interupted and many of our key players are needed to travel all over the world. A friend who went to the game said we were physically overawed in the first half, but were much better in the second: he felt that if we had scored from one of our good chances we might well have got at least a point. But then again, if my aunty had balls she’d be my uncle. How we react in the next game will be interesting: i’ve got a ticket so will report back.
I liked Wenger very much and it was always going to be hard to replace him. Think George Lazenby for Connery, Moyes for Ferguson. What I’ve found interesting has been the time it seemed to take for the club (or do I mean the owners?) to appreciate quite how much Wenger had kept everything together, and the seemingly obvious wrong decisions since then. My take was that junior Kroenke fell for the propaganda and thought that it was Arsene who was standing in the way of progress. Under Emery I felt a few players were taking the mickey at times, and many were over-rated. I think that the club seems to be on a better path now and Ive enjoyed seeing cautious progress this season: some of the football has been attractive and there does seem to have been an increasingly cohesive sense of team spirit.
I liked Arteta as a player and better judges than me think him a good coach: I think in time he will become better at man managment and better at handling press interviews. I choose not to blame him for not strengthening the team in January, as the exact ones you want are seldom available at that time of year. Were we to get into the top four it would presumably be easier to attract real quality in those areas we seem to need it the most (striker, strong midfielder, left back?) but I suspect the reality is we’ll have to make do with those for whom the Europa is carrot enough. I hoped at the end of August that we would come 6th, but we’ll need to play well over the next two months to secure even that, such is the tightness of the competition right now.
And finally, apologies to one and all (and Mills in particular) for not having written anything recently. As old Boxer would have said, I must work harder.
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Certainly no need to apologise Mr Head it seems tough to write anything these days? I really enjoyed reading that which you, Ian and Shotts have written and looking forward to your report of the game v the Seaweed.
I suppose we are just in another time, maybe its not always easy to write, maybe even if we work harder our enthusiasm is at a low ebb and that seems to negate things? But even so Id rather read or listen to what you guys have to say than the Luton fans,and even if it feels like last stand hill at PA, to me it still feels like a corner of dignity.
Sometimes I think that both sensationalism and hyperbole (thats around everywhere in football)eventually eat consume themselves? Certainly they seem after a while to be bloody vacuous and boring.And thats after doing terrible damage. But the old tortoise of patience and dignity wins the daft race?
Eddie, sure miss all you bits and pieces you normally post, for years youve done us a great service, I hope youre ok, and to everyone else is too.
COYG!
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It’s been great watching the goals fly in especially the phenomenal dream like goal glut after the fast (after the player who wanted out left and there were eleven on the pitch).
I’d had a big moan when Auba left. He’s happier now.
Lacazette’s has a lot but it is not harsh to say it was a big ask from the coach for him to play every game. I hope Nketiah scores with every touch in training this week i suspect the smarter coaches will be watching what Viera did and Arteta needs some new tricks. Niles would be a nice option. He did ok at LB against both the ‘21 European cup finalists.
Fingers crossed the cut squad can keep up the pace and Arteta can keep on finding solutions and the subtler variations which to his credit he’s been doing, I might not understand the subtle tactics heh but I can appreciate the resulting goals especially those coming with the ball moving through the centre. I just wish he hadn’t cut short his options.
COYG
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Martinelli
ESR Odegaard Saka
Is a popular request.
Probably will happen at times when the fixtures are close. Nketiah?
Lacazette has a lot but his fitness has always been an issue, some games as well as trying hard he blows hard a lot earlier then usual.
Hope Eds is well. Would like to know his thoughts on which players in the squad could play as the striker.
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Who to be striker is a bit of a conundrum at Arsenal as it has such an impact on the type of football the team tries to play. We seem to have played better with Lacazette up front but it would have been nice if he had added a few goals of his own. He seems to have lost a little bit of pace and confidence. Martinelli had both pace and confidence but doesn’t seem to be as good with his back to goal (getting strong reminders here of Podolski and Walcott who both coveted playing through the middle but couldn’t). Nketiah has had a few chances to stake a proper claim but it just doesn’t seem to quite work for him in the Premiership when he has less time and space. He looks to me as if he almost tries too hard. However with Tierney out for the season I suppose there’s every chance that Saka will move to left back so it’s possible Nketiah could get a run of games that could see him relax into the role and do what he’s done at every level, bar the Prem, so far.
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I can’t see how Mikel has been finding solutions more like solutions have found him. I said at the start of the season Pepe and Auba were holding the team back and he took an age to work this out.
Even now Pepe is our first sub when he still offers nothing different from earlier in the season when he was dropped, he still daydreams and gives no support to the full back behind him.
Eddie should have been given increased minutes so he could of taken over from Laca ages ago.
Laca treads water at some point in every game and looks like he needs a sit down. He is still a quality player but his use from the bench from the bench would be much more productive.
Fans say we couldn’t get the right targets in the winter but if that was the case you have to keep the likes of Ainsley.
Imagine how much stronger our squad would be with Ainsley, Joe and Callum all stepping in at the vital time. Instead we have Pepe and Tavares who struggle whenever they get on the pitch.
The idea of the clear out was to save money on wages, which is great if you have enough youngsters ready to step in and you intergrate them when the first eleven is fit so they are ready when there are injuries but how much will those wages of saved us if we miss out on CL again.
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New podcast is up
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I keep reading that Partey’s injury is a devastating blow and replacing him won’t be easy, but he’s never looked all that to me. Who do you think should fill in for him, Ian?
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