Good afternoon or p’nawn da Positive Gooners,

A thoroughly entertaining game in Cardiff, though at times I admit I was a little ‘tense’. Three points banked in the PL nevertheless and a professional win in the sort of stadium environment we have buckled in before.

Of our lads I hardly need to enquire who would be the unanimously elected Man of the Match do I?  Alexander Lacazette was superb today throughout the 90 minutes, producing what was his best performance ever in the Arsenal shirt.A week ago the ‘Ammers own goal robbed Laca of the plaudits, Fate did not quibble today. TH Frenchman’s  movement was intelligent and crisp. He controlled the ball, rarely wasted a  lay off, and was constantly AVAILABLE for a pass from team-mates, ready to collect the ball, and turn an opponent. Cardiff did not know how to play him and never had him worked out. That his third Arsenal goal was decisive, the winner, was suitable reward for the excellence of his effort.

Other notable performances from Hector, who had a right battle with Hoillett all game, and from both central defenders who had a hard afternoon against an enormous Bluebirds line at dead ball situations. The marking went wrong once but the other 12 times we resisted the bombardment well. And Auba ? Super goal.

You may have noticed and enjoyed Torreira’s contribution after his introduction in the 71st minute. Again he is a very tidy player who, when he gets the ball, never loses or wastes it. He is blessed with a tiny turning circle. Second point though, Lucas was fouled twice, and for both fouls the Cardiff player was carded, with our Uruguayan rolling  about with commendable brio. The game was broken up, the Welsh stopped in their tracks for a minute each time, while our player recovered. Is this a little of the black art, the Latin art,  that is required in the closing stages of games ?

I suspect the Xhaka fan club may not have had an easy afternoon with the Swiss accident prone, and Emery and the “passing-out-from-the-back” programme may need a little more, actually a lot, lot more, work. I shall take the points without embarrassment as the better football side won.

Of Cardiff they will struggle. I did not see one player who looked above decent Championship standard. The Welsh side have heart in spades, but no art.  Great support  from both sets of fans.

Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday.

@LaboGoon gives a bore da pawb to Arsenal far and near

Good day Positivistas…

Arsenal and Unai Emery finally got some reward last week in a game that weren’t too pleasing on the eye yet entertaining in equal measure. And it’s off the back of that emotional cocktail that we visit the land of Aaron James Ramsey’s fathers to play Cardiff City this afternoon.

Despite the glamour of scoring three goals vs West Ham, there was still cause for concern at how disjointed our defense looked in our willingness to commit men forward. It is still early days in Unai’s reign so we should expect a few kinks and just have to trust the process because what he is trying to do is ‘teach them how to fish’ – so to speak.

Not able to get in behind opposition defenses seems to be is an obvious concern for Neil Warnock with his sides lack of goals. After three games the Bluebirds are the only Premier League side yet to score, averaging less than two shots on target per game. So with them looking more and more like clean-sheet fodder, god speed our defense have themselves a rare day off.

That doesn’t necessarily mean we will be romping it at the other end… because whilst Cardiff aren’t scoring, they aren’t exactly conceding either – shipped just two goals in the three games. So if we are to have any joy our middle to front players will have to make sure at least one end of the pitch see some action.

It’s not only Cardiff going into this game goalless, Aubameyang has been kept quiet in the first three games too and will be looking to get on the scoresheet this time around, along with Lacazette who is yet to open his account too. We are all rubbing his hands hoping our frontline strikers get scoring soon.

Heading into the game last weekend all the rage on social-media was about a training ground “bust up”. With the victory the rumour mill amongst the media and fans seem to have gotten more calm; besides Reiss Nelson adding sauerkrauts to his diet and fruit juice banned from London Colney… it was a rather slow news week at the Emirates.

Today should be one of those where we expect one team to do all the attacking work and the other all defending, but strangers things has happened. Over the last 12 months Arsenal didn’t had much joy on their travels against teams we were expected to beat, and with that a perception grew that we are susceptible when away crowds get real noisy to rally behind their team. So while we can expect the Bluebird faithful to crank it up, this is something Unai would like to nip the bud very quickly because following the FIFA week are travelling up north to Newcastle. With Rafa already giving both Chelsea and Man City a scare… we wouldn’t want him to have any ideas.

Good luck to all watching the game and if all goes well Arsenal will put on a worthy team performance to silence all critics.

Good morning Positives,

After two defeats in games in which we faced difficult opponents yesterday was a game I certainly had marked down as three points to the Arsenal and so it eventually worked out. The eventually being relevant as right up to the time-added-on+ the ‘Ammers were still in the game and could have snatched the equaliser. I was surprised at the 61% v 39% possession in our favour, it looked more even to me. If we were  a bit unlucky not to earn a point at the Bridge so our claret and blue visitors will feel aggrieved that all their efforts were for nought.

Of the game itself the content of the post game comments on here was accurate. I also thought it was our worst display of the three games.  Defensively we were shaky and better finishing from Arnautovic could/should have embarrassed us further. The  right hand side of our football team in the first half worked well going forward. If the move broke down however, with Hector upfield, there was no cover behind him and the ‘Ammers raced in on our goal. Mustafi and Sokratis were confronted with 3-4 charging opponents and the tackles and clearances looked  desperate. On the other side of the pitch Nacho did not suffer the same problems. In the final third during the first half our passing was also poor, with good ball wasted. It was difficult to pick put anyone who was better or worse than anyone else, it was just below average.

If the first half was unsatisfactory the second was better. Laca’s introduction gave a definite  target for the ball being passed forward and he and PEA combined far better.  We seemed to get a better measure of Anderson and Antoine and, slowly, a solid grip on midfield. Our new Uruguayan’s entry on 56 minutes I thought was important in winning that midfield battle. He is very tidy.  As it was the first time I had seen Torreira live I was impressed. But he is sooooo short – He really is Alan Ball/Billy Bremner size !! When our second goal came, while it was as ugly as sin, it was deserved.

After that WH scrambled to get back into it, with pressure but no real killer punch in their attacks. The introduction of Chicarito, with his blue rinse, made the work of or back two that little bit easier.  The Arsenal defence did enough to fend them off. The third goal was a little cherry on Danny’s cake, the reward for effort.

Of the Ammers I thought Antoine did well, and despite  some wayward finishing Arnautovic’s goal was a peach of a shot. Jack was anonymous. If I had not been looking  for him I would not have noticed him. A hard Autumn beckons for Manuel Pelligrini.

So three much needed points in the bag and AFC are on the road for two interesting games in Cardiff and on Tyneside.

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past – and enjoy your Sunday…

@LaboGoon rings the bell and we are all aboard

Good day one and all.

Arsenal host West Ham United at the Emirates this afternoon, with both sides still looking for their first Premier League points.

It goes without saying that Unai Emery didn’t got off to the ideal start, but that does come with the strong caveat that the opening fixtures haven’t been ideal either.

The fixtures are about to take a turn for the better though, with the Hammers today and thereafter away trips to Cardiff and Newcastle. Three fixtures that on paper don’t look particularly daunting, so will likely tell us far more about Unai and what he has in mind.

After the discomfort of the past two weeks playing West Ham in front of a vociferous Emirates crowd is perhaps just the tonic we need. They’re a side that failed to turn up in their opening games, conceding 6 goals at the one end of the pitch and scored just 1 at the other – from the penalty spot. So Manuel Pellegrini must be under the cosh a bit because there has been no positives despite spending over £100m during the transfer window, on top of signing Jack Wilshere for free, who say he got a point to prove.

So going into this game we are the obvious favourites given our squad and quality, but things aren’t always that simple. We still have work to do on utilizing Unai’s tactics to the best of our abilities and cannot afford to make any mistakes, especially in these games that do provide some of the easier points to fight for.

While we were second best in the two previous games, there has been some positives to take from defeat, especially at Chelsea last week Saturday. There was a particular spell where we had them at sixes-and-sevens and created clear-cut chances at will, but… had it not been for the lack of a finishing touch we would have returned home with the points.

Hopefully our forwards have their scoring boots on today, notably one Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Although he missed some sitters last week I can imagine he must be licking his chops looking at our run of fixtures. This is a man that scored 120 goals in 144 Bundesliga matches, last season he contributed to an Arsenal goal or assist every 75 minutes. So we got ourselves one hell of a player who just need to open his account this season to burst into life.

What the next few games also provide is an opportunity for our defenders to wrap their heads around this playing out from the back thing. Once we got that sorted, I suspect this team will really kick on!

If West Ham are to cause an upset today, Fabianski and his defenders will need to step up and give a good showing. However, I’m going to stick my neck out here and say our amazing attack may just be a bit too overwhelming for them to cope with…. especially in front of the Emirates faithful.

Good Morning Positive Arsenal fans,

A bit grey and blustery up on the Norfolk coast this morning, the Autumn beckons.

Our two stiff opening games are complete and I am satisfied with the performances. I had no complaints about the City defeat but I am a little disappointed that yesterday, after investing so much in the match, we did not collect the point we deserved.

Of the game itself it was the classic three halfer, or possibly more. The first phase saw Chels tear us smoothly into strips and what opportunities we created we squandered. At 2-0 it looked as through a dreadful afternoon was on the cards. Then phase two and finally we hit the target and broke our PL scoring duck, which caused the home side to wobble and we tore into them. The home crowd were silenced for the only time in the afternoon. Finally a second half where we wee pushed back and pushed back, to CFC’s credit s they were pretty good. We resisted stoutly, but the addition of Hazard gave them just that little extra spark as we were tiring. At 3-2 we had another, final chance of redemption, but Laca  could just not pick up the rebound as Kepa spilled Ramsey’s shot – fine margins, fine margins.

Of our good performances I was massively impressed yet again with Matteo. He has  earned his starting place and his energy and willingness to be involved in everything is exactly what we need. I thought Nacho had a good game too considering it is ages since he kicked a ball, Torreira too and Cech pulled off a string of important saves. Hector ran and ran and ran. I offer the young Spaniard an encouraging arm around the shoulder.

Of mild controversy  during the game on social media, I thought Emry’s substitutions were spot on. To have gone to 10 men would have been terminal, and the baying Stamford Bridge mob were all over Xhaka. I cannot recall Ozil being withdrawn for tactical reasons but we needed more physical presence so Aaron’s arrival was right and referring back to my “fine margins” chance at the end the Welshman could, on another day, have been decisive.

What is gone is gone however and the important work this week will be toward sharpening out goal scoring weapons for the arrival of the ‘Ammers  on Saturday. If our opening two games have been fixtures we anticipated might yield few if any points (well I did anyway) Pelligrini’s misfiring rabble must be the Premier League meat we feed on and build our  strength.

There is always work to do. Enjoy Sunday.

@LaboGoon initiates the faithful

Maybe all new managers of top Premier League teams going through some sort of initiation ritual wouldn’t be such a bad thing at all:

Big game to the League’s most expensive team – check
Big game away from home – check
Having Tony Adams, Sam Allardyce and Tim Sherwood doing their best impression of the “Britain’s Got Talent” judging panel – check

“Go out into the woods son, go out into the woods”

Good day one and all…

The PL roller-coaster returned with a bang last weekend and has already been a source of despair as we saw our top 6 rivals all won their opening games and we, well, you know – so we can ill afford giving them a 6 point head start at the end of this weekend. While on the flip-side we will have played two of our toughest opponents, it still will not make things less stressful going forward.

Arsenal take the short trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea in another of these high profile fixtures that we always have circled on our calendars. With both clubs having new coaches Unai Emery could not have asked for a more difficult start than playing the juggernaut that is Man City, whilst Maurizio Sarri’s side strolled to a 3-0 win in what clearly looked like mismatch vs relegation candidates Huddersfield.

There certainly was a lot to like about us in defeat last Sunday, but what Arsenal also need is for Unai to channel his Sevilla self not just the PSG version, because we are nowhere near being the league’s wealthiest side.

We had 3 shots on target while on the other end of the pitch Man City had 8 out of 17 shots on target, and with Chelsea another of the usually high scoring teams we need a bit more caution, stability and sensibility in defense if we want to answer Unai’s call of putting in an improved performance:

“Our players need to improve in the biggest games.”

With Sarriball in full effect last weekend and Eden Hazard back, the Blues will look to seize control of midfield, but I think we will be better prepared by not taking the quality in their ranks for granted.

Up front I wouldn’t mind seeing Lacazette given the nod as I feel him and Auba partnering up in attack will be fruitful. 🍎 When he came onto the field last Sunday we immediately had the Man City defense on the back foot.

Team news: Nacho Monreal and Lucas Torreira is available for selection so we can expect changes to the line-up.

Good luck to our boys, coach and all Gooners for today. Given the varying fortunes of these two sides last weekend…… I feel we could see a classic here today.

Good Evening Positive AFC fans,

The first game of the 2018/2019 season under the belt, so to speak, and I feel a lot better with that opening obstacle concluded. A real thumping would have cast a pall over my week and I could not have that. Not the result we hoped for but a team performance that I thought was good overall.

Of the parts that impressed me most our teenage debutante Guendouzi stood out, and he earns his first MoTM award. Matteo was able to cope with the physical demands of the game, tackle cleanly, and showed himself able to control the ball with no time or space. There was some pre-match discussion on SKY about the speed/pace of the English PL game troubling foreign players. He had no obvious problem I saw. For the young Frenchman  to put in the full 94 minutes with no obvious slacking toward the end also suggests good stamina. Lichtsteiner’s introduction at left back, although the circumstances of it were unfortunate, showed us what the highly experienced Swiss can do. He reads the game well and has that edge of cunning that we need in a cruel, cruel football world. In Michel Oliver’s face, pointing, shouting, even tearing a strip off Mesut at one point. On another day his goading of Aymeric would have seen the opponent on his way back to the dressing room with a red card for his cranial lunge. I like him.

I thought Petr pulled off a string of good saves today, and for a period in the First Half kept us in the game.. The notion that he should have done better on the Sterling goal is bollocks. The kicking out or passing out from the back though between Cech/Matteo/Sokratis/Skhodran ? THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES!! Sort it out Mr Emery.

Of things we could have done better ? We created a number of half chances and potentially useful positions on the Citeh final third that we did not exploit. We looked rusty. At the key moment the pass to an Arsenal attacker went astray, too long, too short, Auba went left as the ball went right et cetera.At 0-1 we all know a goal for us would have left Pep’s boys reeling. Against good teams like Citeh we can expect only limited possessions around the opposition box and I felt today it was not used as it could/should have been. Scoring goals eh ? That is a thing.

I would also like to see more of Mkhi on the ball and challenging in midfield and  that it was Aaron who got the hook first and the Armenian playing the full match was a surprise. He did OK but in the first 35  minutes he did not provide AMN with enough support. He worked better with Hector after the changeover but even then he had a air of Theo at times, always available but never involved.

Onwards to the Bridge next week to meet the currently table-topping Chelsea. Probably a busy week at Colney, identifying the parts of the machine that need to be sharpened, tightened and oiled.

Enjoy your week.

As I cant be bothered writing a load of rubbish about all things Arsenal, I’ve talked a load of rubbish instead.

A guest post from Seebs

Well the new season is only a few days away and the real stuff is truly upon us. Arsene has really gone and the new breed are bedding in. I’m not totally sure there are more differences than matches in the way things are set up now, of course apart from the set up which has evolved over the last couple of seasons and is now totally different if you know what I mean.

The preseason has ended, and the season starts with us, as are most other clubs, still looking like we are in preseason, its all very strange. We certainly look like we need another four games to gel the starting eleven as these half a half games really don’t give you a good idea of how the team will perform over ninety minutes and against sides that will perform over ninety minutes, the whole thing is one big anomaly.

Would anyone have said Unai’s reign would start with Ainsley as the only sure-fire starter in the whole squad? I know there are other players probably with their name already on the first team sheet, however, the strength of the squad that has been build up over the last few seasons  is such we really have different players for every position and again those players could interchange depending on the system we decide to adopt.

We know Cech is approaching his twilight years, but Leno is a top-quality keeper?  Although I think the more experienced man will get the nod the decision will be close. As time goes on Leno’s distribution above anything else will make him the clear winner as we play the ball out from the back more and more and just as happened at city the necessity to have a footballing keeper will determine the pick.

At right back its close again but Stephan’s lack of game time with us will see Hector get the nod. As for the CB’s I am a massive fan of the Rob and Callum partnership and I believe they are the best footballing pair we have however, I again think the more experienced duo of Shkodran and Sokratis will start the first game.

The Midfield becomes difficult to call as systems, fitness and cohesiveness all come into play here. I’m guessing that as were at home and judging by the friendlies the midfield three will be Aaron, if fit, Guendouzi and Granit although Elneny could cover anyone of these three if needed.

Up front It would be Pierre, Henrikh and Mesut in quite an attacking line up and Laca unfairly missing out but that’s the quality we have at present.

That would leave the bench looking like Leno, Stephan, Callum, Lucas, Elneny, Alex and Lacazette. So, most of the new lads starting their ARSENAL careers from the bench and most the youngsters missing out for the first game.  I do think Eddie is very close and will get game time soon as will they all in Europe.

So, in conclusion, we’re not ready, but maybe readier than some of the unready we are playing early. There are things to be worked on and ironed out but in the main the preseason has gone well, and the integration of players has gelled quite nicely. Of course, I’m massively excited for next Sunday and will very nervous coming up to kick off.

Enjoy it everyone here we go again.