Good morning all.
In this podcast we look at why a dazzling start turned into a struggle.
Pedantic George.
21 comments on “Struggle with Leeds is Pepe Fault.”
Comments are closed.
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Positively Arsenal 
Brilliant and funny pod once again.
The Ayling sending off definitely hurt us and changed the game but it only highlighted our struggle all season to break teams down who park the bus.
Our finishing wasn’t clinical and we nearly paid for that in the end. I understand why Shotta said we controlled the game if you look at the stats but actually the longer the game went on we didn’t especially after they scored.
Pepe was the player of the tournament in the ACN but he has never played a decent 90 minutes for us. He is obviously a good player but just doesn’t fit with us. It would easy to say it is a Mikel thing but he was shit under Unai as well. I have consistently said he underperformed from day one even when he in the side regularly (so George you are wrong about not getting a chance he’s had loads and under two managers)
Pepe is a daydreamer it not just the amount of times he loses the ball but the fact he is unaware he is on a football pitch when the other team have the ball, he looks like he is thinking about what he is going to have for tea a sort of footballers Homer Simpson if you will.
The decision to come back inside while we on the break was the worst of all his options at that point but the fact that Saka, who has been playing constantly for two years and looks fucked, stabilised the left hand side defensively better than Pepe it was noticeable just how much Leeds attacked down that side once Saka went off. It also emphasizes a players worth is not just defined on how they do going forward.
I know George doesn’t rate Pepe but is defending a player who is getting peters from the boo boys as I would if I was in the stadium.
Actually Mikel was right in what he said about Pepe however his crime is publicly hanging a player out to dry and we know he has made this mistake before in complete contrast to Arsene who would always take the blame off his players and there shows the measure of the man.
Our collective spirit, which is one of this teams best attributes could eventually be destroyed by this.
I can’t see us winning at the toilet bowl either mainly because we don’t come back from being goal down, so I think we need to score first and hang on. Lots has been made of the spuds front three and they will scare me all game but we also have 15 spells where we can be electric and Eddie has been brilliant since Mikel found him by accident. A draw against the spuds would put us right on the edge of top four.
LikeLike
15 minute spells
LikeLike
oh my we’re signing hickey tielemans sterling and jesus, well thats what the itk are saying
LikeLike
I’m crapping myself already, I can’t see us winning if we go behind at any time during the game because of the way they play on the counter and our history this season when going behind.
Difficult to know whether Tommy should start right or left because of the make up of their front three and the speed and form of son.
Many say Saka has been quite recently but I think he is probably the best player to drive son back and it would certainly be better if he plays in their half most of the game rather than ours.
Aaron will be incredibly important not only for his saves but his organisation and willingness to take the ball out of the air to relieve the defence and then spring attacks.
We need to be clinical tonight which has been a problem for us recently but what a night to copy city with goals/shots ratio.
COYG
LikeLike
A second yellow for someone be running into your elbow ah you could of put money on these calls and indeed by now quite a few know the MOB well enough and do so. Easy money.
If that’s a red card I think it’s accurate to state that Tottenham have had more pens against they arsenal over the last decade then they have scored goals!
LikeLike
Still a bit of hope left in this game if we can get an early goal, and Arteta can talk them in to coming back..2-0 is always a weird score, not really the lead it implies. Going to take some doing, but Arteta cant always rely on other teams mucking up. Feel sorry for Rob, Son was always going to be looking for it after the first yellow.
Come on Saint Totteringham, time to get yer Arsenal into action!
COYG!
LikeLike
great.
LikeLike
I’m glad Arteta sorted out the culture at the club, and improved our defense so much, imagine if he hadn’t we could be 3-0 down by now.
LikeLike
its all in the process…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Simple foul on Wddy on 70 mins identical to one of Holdings yellows.
How does Son get protected in this league but the best young English talent alongside Foden gets kicked off the park week after week (see Wilshere) to the clear detriment of the national team (see Wilshere’s bbc anointed replacement Winks lol!)
This pgMOB have, evidentially, retarded English Football. Check the trophy cabinet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nowt changed since before KO but the loss of both CBs for Newcastle might be a blow.
LikeLike
Might save us getting knocked out in the first rounds of the Champions League.
LikeLike
It’s still in our hands. We were never going to get the rub of the green tonight and didn’t play well enough to take that out of the equation. Monday is now the focus.
LikeLike
so with Tavares coming on for the injured Gabriel, it begs the question was White not fit to even play 15 minutes, if not, then why the hell was he in the subs
LikeLike
I think White was probably fit enough to play about 20 or maybe more but at three nil down having lost two CBs already it would be foolish to risk him. We now have four days to get him ready for a full game.
However St Maximan against Tavares, Cedric or Xhaka is not a good thought.
Mikel got a lot of things wrong tonight so his game plan against the magpies needs to be spot on.
LikeLike
LikeLike
can Ballard play on Monday, now that his loan at Millwall is over
LikeLike
last season we finished 25pts off top spot, we currently sit 23pts off top spot
we can with 2 wins get top 4, and end the season with more pts than 3rd placed liverpool had last season.
we have so far scored 1 goal more than last season, but we have conceded 6 extra goals, thats not great when you consider we added 3 first choice players to the defense
there used to be a saying that the best way to improve you position is to turn draws into wins, and losses into wins and draws. Well we will regardless of our next two results, have less draws than last season, we drew 7 last season, we have only 3 draws this season. But we have not managed to turn the losses into wins and draws. Last season we finished with 13 defeats, tonights result means we have 12 losses this time around.
I’m grateful we have a generational manager, who has fixed the defense, and changed the culture, and has developed all these brilliant young players, imagine how slow the progress would be if we had just any ordinary manager.
LikeLike
Another dreadful performance aided and abetted by an even more dreadful performance by the ref who could barely disguise his bias.
This game highlights our ability to play reasonably well against the poorer teams or better teams on an off day but to be hopeless against the better teams when they are not playing badly.
We may very well still get 4th, but apart from the money, on this sort of performance, what difference will it make.
We are still a mediocre team, with no creativity, a toothless attack and an over-hyped, mediocre or less manager.
The next 3 years, if Arteta goes all the way, will prove to be very trying for the supporters.
LikeLike
reports in Brazil that Arsenal have offered €3M for Sao Paulo’s 19 year old forward Marquinhos,
LikeLike
I thought the front three played well and so did the Xhaka/Elneney axis while they were together.
I would say Oddegarrd was again poor but it was Mikel who got it wrong.
The ref may have been awful and the pen was ridiculous but son was rapeing big Bob from the first minute and Mikel did absolutely nothing to change it.
Even when we were down to ten men we were still playing quite high up the pitch.
Mikel is still making the same mistakes over and over again.
LikeLike